The Broken Saviour and the Hunt
by Crxz
Summary: Annabeth, Sally and Paul all die while fighting Gaia and Percy is left broken and alone. Hestia tries to help but there's only so much she can do. A new great prophecy is issued about a new threat, this forces Percy to have to travel with the hunt. This is Percy's quest to save the world one more time and find a new family. This story will have Hestia adoption and Pertemis.
1. Chapter 1

**AN/: Hey this is my first story I'm going to try and make it not too much of a basic Percy and the hunt. I'm not from the US so I apologies for any English/geographical/cultural mistakes.**

 **If I do make mistakes or you have suggestions or feedback feel free to leave a review.**

 **Chapter 1**

 **Percy POV**

It was 3am but none of the seven were in bed. No one could sleep because we almost at Athens and we all knew what was waiting for us when we arrived, Gaia and her giants. So far, we hadn't heard anything from the gods, so we didn't know if they would come and help fight because without them there was no chance of us being able to kill the giants. I was leaning over the railing at the front of the ship, trying to peer through the darkness below.

"We'll get through it," I hear Annabeth say as she walks up to me.

"But I'm just thinking how we've not heard anything from the gods. What if they don't turn up?" I reply turning around to face her.

"They will, I'm sure of it. Even if Zeus doesn't see sense I'm sure some of the council will come help." She assures me while wrapping her arms around my neck.

"Yeah, you're right," I look down into her stormy grey eyes and brush a strand of her blonde hair to the side. I start to feel a little bit of hope return to me. As long as Annabeth is with me I'll fight no matter the odds.

"Aren't I always?" she smirks as she pulls me into a kiss.

"Sorry to interrupt but we need to talk," a voice interrupts us. I pull back from Annabeth and I see an Iris message of a very tired looking Reyna, she appears to be in a large tent. "Can you get the others?"

"No need," Jason says as he walks up to us with Piper by his side and Hazel, Frank and Leo behind him. "What's up?"

"We made it to camp," Reyna tells us. "The Athena Parthenos is on Half-Blood Hill. The Greeks are listening to Nico and are trying to find a way to help you. Octavian still has the first cohort in his pocket but the rest of the legion stands by you." Our hopes all lift after hearing Reyna and Nico's quest was successful and that for the most part the camps were no longer at war.

"We've not had any sign from the gods yet," Annabeth tells her. "I'll try contact my mother, now her statues returned she might be able to help us." Considering that we haven't had any contact yet it was a bit of a long shot, but it was our best option.

"Get some rest Reyna you look like you need it," Jason tells her. "We'll IM you when we have more of a plan." He then swipes his hand through the message.

"Really Jason? You look like you need it? Don't say that to the poor girl." Piper scolds him as she hits his arm.

"What she did look pretty rough," Jason yelps as he's hit again.

"That doesn't mean you have to tell her," Piper replies as she rolls her eyes. We all look around when we hear a voice being cleared. Behind us there was another Iris message of Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Hera, Athena, Hephaestus as well as Artemis and Apollo.

"Dad!" I grin at him, it has been ages since I'd seen my father. He looks the same as before with tanned skin, a neatly trimmed beard and the same sea-green eyes as me.

"Percy, it's good to see you again my son, as much as I'd love to catch up with you we have more important matters to attend to." He tells me, I nod in understanding. "Zeus, in his eternal stupidity still thinks that closing off Olympus is the answer. He still has some of the council and all of the minor gods on his side, we're the only ones that are willing to help." He says while gesturing to the group of gods and goddesses around him.

"Do you have a plan?" I ask my father, happy that Olympus hasn't completely abandoned us.

"Yes, we do," Athena answers. "Thanks to your friends most of the camps are ready to help fight with us. According to our sources Gaia has an army amassed at the Acropolis so we'll need the campers help to defeat them."

"But mother how can they get hear in time?" Annabeth asks her mother. I still find it weird how similar they look, Athena looking like Annabeth in 15 years.

"I've thought of that. Hephaestus has made a couple of modifications to Apollo and Artemis's chariots, so they will bring the hunt, Greeks and Romans that are willing to cooperate." Athena replied pleased with what was obviously her idea.

"Lady Athena, wouldn't the mortals notice the moon and sun in the wrong place in the sky?" Hazel asks.

"Yes, they would notice something, however whatever they see will be better than letting Gaia wake and destroy us all." Apollo says. "Arty will take the hunt and some female campers and I'll take as many as I can."

"Don't call me Arty!" Artemis shouts as she brings out an arrow and aims it at her brother.

"Calm down niece," Hestia says from her seat by the hearth. She turns and addresses the seven. "Heroes set down when you reach Athens and wait for us. We will arrive around sunrise, so I suggest you all get some rest until then."

"Thank you for your help my Lords and Ladies," Piper bows to the gods and the rest of us say our thanks and bow as well.

"We won't abandon you Piper," Aphrodite says reassuringly to her daughter. She could tell that we had been doubting if the gods would help.

"We'll see you soon my son," my father says to me before getting up and swiping his hand through the message leaving the seven of us standing on the deck of the Argo in the early hours of the morning.

"Guys!" Leo calls from the controls. "We've arrived at Athens. I'll set us down in a nearby field so we can rest." As he said this the rest of us ran over to the railing to try and catch a glimpse of Athens. By the Acropolis we could see bonfires and torches spread around it, it was Gaia's forces. The army we would be fighting later that day. It was hard to think anything other than we're fucked.

"Hestia's right there's nothing else to do but rest and prepare," Annabeth says trying to take our minds off the probable suicide mission would be going on. She grabs my hand and leads me down below deck.

 **Time Skip (3 hours)**

We were all down in the mess all trying to eat but no one really had an appetite. I was poking at my blue pancakes when we heard two loud engines approaching. "That'll be our reinforcements I guess," I say while standing up and heading towards the door. I take one look at the enchanted walls showing camp, my home and somewhere that I may never see again. Annabeth sees my expression and squeezes my hand.

"We'll make it back Seaweed brain. Now I want to see Thalia, I haven't seen her in ages." She says as she pulls me up the stairs. Once we got to the deck we saw two huge buses, one silver and one gold. As we approached the buses people started to climb out, three people started to walk towards us. One was a tall blonde good-looking man with a blinding white smile, he was around 19 and I recognised that it was Apollo. Next to him was a beautiful woman with long auburn hair tied back in a ponytail and she was dressed in silver clothes that were not overly tight but stilled showed her lithe figure, it was Artemis. She looked around the same age as her brother which was strange as she normally appears as a young pre-teen. Tailing a little behind her mistress was Thalia dressed as usual in a black leather jacket, a Green Day t-shirt and spiky black hair.

"Lady Artemis, Lord Apollo, Thals," I bow to the two gods and give my cousin a friendly hug. I hadn't seen her since before Hera took me but she looked exactly the same, I suppose that was due to the immortality.

"Sup cuz," Apollo said to me while reaching out for a fist-bump which I hesitantly returned. I wasn't sure why he was being so friendly, but I wasn't complaining. "Uncle P and the rest should be here soon and we'll finalise the plan."

"Come on Seaweed brain, Annie and Jason we have a lot to catch up on before our probable deaths," Thalia said jokingly but there was still a hint of seriousness.

"Optimistic as ever Thals," I under my breath as I followed her. I might as well spend some time with my friends while we wait for the rest of the gods.

 **Line break**

The seven of us plus Thalia, Reyna and Nico were sitting in a large silver tent that some of the hunters had put up. We were listing to Athena give us the plan for the battle, she had been talking for half an hour and most of the gods were almost asleep. All I managed to remember was that the Romans and Greeks lead by Reyna and Nico would fight most of the army and the prophesied seven and the gods would take fight the giants.

"Any questions?" Athena asked. No one said anything as most were just glad she'd stopped talking, the only one who was listing was Annabeth. Athena looked slightly disappointed that there were no questions.

"Right now we've got the plan lets go kick some giant ass!" Apollo says loudly while jumping out his chair. We headed out the tent ready to face the fight of our lives.

 **AN/: Well that's chapter 1. I know it's a bit slow but it will start getting more interesting soon I'll try get these intro chapters out fast so we can get to the good stuff.**

 **Reviews, suggestions and opinions are more than welcome but please don't flame too much.**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN/: 2** **nd** **chapter! I'm not that proud of this but I want to get it over with.**

 **Chapter 2**

 **Percy POV**

I stood in front of the Romans assembled in cohorts and the Greeks just in lines mostly organized by cabins. They were all looking towards me, waiting for me to start talking. Annabeth though that it would be a good idea for me to make a pep talk. I'm not sure what sort of inspirational bull shit she thought I could come up with as my mind was completely blank. I let out a deep breath and started improvising. "Greeks, Romans, today that doesn't matter. Today we stand together to fight Gaia and her minions. Today we fight for Olympus, for the world, and most importantly for each other." A couple people cheered and a few just laughed at how bad at speeches I am. It was generic but did seem to lift the somber mood slightly. I walked back to where the rest of the seven and gods were standing.

"Percy my boy, come with me for a minute," my father said as he walked away from the group. I followed him and when he came to a stop I just waited for him to speak. "No matter what happens today I want you to know that I'm incredibly proud of you and everything you've done. You're my favorite son, don't tell Triton that. I also want you to know that I'm sorry."

"Thanks dad, what are you sorry about?" I said, clueless as to what he could be sorry for.

"For your life. You grew up without a proper dad and with an abusive step-father, then you were thrust into a life of danger and death. Having to fight for your life, friends, family and the entire world." He said to me I could see his eyes starting to water.

"Dad, you couldn't have prevented any of this. Someone had to do it all, it just ended up being me." I tried to reassure him. He pulled me into a strong hug.

"I love you Percy, remember that." He sniffed. "We'd better join the others, it looks like the battles about to start," he said gesturing to Gaia's forces who now it was light had noticed us and were preparing to fight.

 **Line break**

As the demi-gods clashed with the monster army the prophesied seven and our parents were charging the giants. Apollo was fighting with Frank and Hera was alongside Jason as both Zeus and Mars were nowhere to be seen. Artemis was further back ready to fire arrows to aid those in trouble and Hestia was ready to help the wounded. My father and I were attacking Porphyrion as we were the most powerful duo. We worked together trying to push back the giant king, blasting him with water but careful that he didn't electrocute it.

"No!" a sob rang through the battle. I looked around and saw Athena trying to protect Annabeth who was lying on the floor unconscious in a growing pool of blood. I froze looking at the woman I loved lying trying to fight off death. A sharp pain in my shoulder brought me back to the fight. I stumbled forwards due to the momentum of the arrow that was now imbedded in the back of my left shoulder, I watch as a blood falls from my wound, seemingly in slow motion as it hits the floor.

"HA! The blood of Olympus has been spilt, mother is awake!" Porphyrion shouts with elated glee. An earthquake makes everyone stumble. I look at my father and his face says that it wasn't him causing it, I knew that the only other being able to make a such a disturbance was Gaia herself.

"Awake at last!" a female voice rings through the now paused battle. "A good try little heroes but its over now." I turn to the source of the voice and see a beautiful woman around 25 feet away from me. She was around 6 feet tall wearing a long brown dress made of dirt. Her shoulder length brown hair was layered perfectly, she had deep green eyes that looked straight at me. They looked drowsy but very much awake.

"Gaia," I say pointing Riptide at the primordial goddess.

"Ah Percy Jackson, you've been quite the thorn in my side," the ancient goddess says while slowly walking towards me. She snaps her fingers and the gods, and my friends were bound in earthen restraints, I was the only one left free. "Now that I'm awake you cannot defeat me, but before your death I have something to show you." Uh oh, this can't be good. She snaps her fingers and Annabeth appears next to her barely conscious and bound in the same earthen shackles. I look at my girlfriend, her blonde hair stuck to her face with blood. To be honest I was terrified of what Gaia was about to do.

"What are you doing?" I question the goddess holding my girlfriend hostage. "Let her go or I swear I will make you beg for mercy."

"Brave words little hero, brave indeed," she says to me. She turns to her children who have lined up behind her. "Do you have them?"

"Yes mother," a giant I think was Hippolytus answers. He pushes two people towards his mother and my breath hitches. I recognize the two as my mother and Paul, Gaia binds them next to Annabeth.

"What are you doing? Let them go NOW!" I demand at Gaia. My mother, I couldn't let her or Paul die, they were innocent and no threat to despicable goddess standing in front of me.

"Oh, I'm going to break you. You've caused my and my children many problems, so, in revenge I will break you." Gaia smiles evilly at me. "Shall we start with Paul I think his name was." She snaps her fingers and Paul collapsed to the floor dead.

"No! You bitch!" I shout at Gaia. I hear my mother cry out at the sight of Paul's body. I surge forwards to attack the earth goddess.

"Ah ah ah, stay right there or it will be worse for these two," Gaia says gesturing to my mother and girlfriend. My heart stopped, what was she going to do. "Now, who's next, mommy or your little girlfriend," she says teasingly. "I think it'll be," she pauses, and I dread what comes next. "Mommy! Any last words?"

"Percy," my mom chokes out. "It's not your fault, I love you and I'm proud of you." She barely finishes before she is alongside Paul in Hades realm. I try not to break down completely, but tears are streaming from my eyes and I choke back a sob.

"Now you," my mothers killer turns to my girlfriend, "last words?"

"Seaweed brain, I love you, don't blame yourself. Promise you'll move on, if you truly love please just move on. As for you," she turns to Gaia. "Fuck you." Gaia just smiles as she kills the love of my life. I let out a primal scream and go straight to auto-pilot. My thoughts only on avenging three of the most important people in my life. Soon the battle begins again and I realize I'd caused an earthquake strong enough to free my friends and the gods. I charge Gaia not caring about the fact that I'm attacking an ancient deity. My minds a blur as I just replay her murdering my family, and after gods knows how long I find myself with riptide at Gaia's throat, she's bound in water around each arm and leg. Sweat, blood, water and dirt cover me as I look at the worst great-grandmother ever.

"Any last words bitch?" I spit out. Gaia just smirks and looks my in the eyes.

"You may have defeated me, but you've angered him. He's coming for you all and you don't stand a chance," she laughs out. I have no idea what she's talking about but at this point in time I couldn't care less. I swing riptide horizontally decapitating the Earth Mother. I look around and see the last of the giants being finished off, I barely notice that Zeus and the other gods that abandoned us had showed up. I collapse down to my knees as everything catches up with me. We had won but the cost was high, too high. The last thing in my mind was the love of my life dying before I blacked out.

 **AN/: Well that's the whole battle scene, I personally thinks its pretty bad and I might redo it abut I mainly just want to get past the whole HOO arc and onto my own original stuff.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think so far.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN/: Chapter 3! I'm trying to push these chapters out as fast as I can to start getting to the whole Artemis and the hunt stuff. I'm still not too proud of the last chapter if you think I should redo it let me know. This chapters mostly just rewards and stuff but the good stuff will come soon.**

 **Chapter 3**

 **Percy POV**

I opened my eyes and immediately shut them again because the room I was lying in was brighter than just about anything I'd ever seen. I slowly opened them again and looked around the room. It looked like a normal hospital ward, but everything was golden. Huh, I must be in Apollo's temple,I thought to myself. I notice my father sitting in a chair next to my bed, he was looking down and stroking his beard seemingly deep in thought.

"Percy, you're awake," my father says looking up at me with a sad smile. "How are you feeling?" That's when it hit me, it had all been real, Annabeth, mom and Paul were all dead. Dead because I couldn't save them. It didn't matter to me that we had won the war, because without my wise girl I was lost.

"Dad," I pause, trying not to break down. "They're gone, aren't they?" I know deep down that I've lost them but a little bit of me is still trying to cling on to hope. My father just lets out a deep breath and looks me in the eyes. He doesn't say anything, he just nods sadly and leans forwards to pull me into a hug. I broke down in his arms, the last member of family I had left. I don't know how long I spent weeping in my fathers tanned arms, but my voice was becoming horse before either of us spoke.

"I know it doesn't bring them back, but they made it to Elysium," my dad says softly pulling away once I'd stopped the worst of my breakdown. I was no longer crying as intensely as my tear ducts were empty and my voice gone. The knowledge that they were now in Elysium made sense, if anyone deserved to go there it was those three. Paul, one of the kindest most accepting mortals I had ever met, I felt eternally in debt to him for bringing my mom so much happiness. Mom, the best mom, woman and mortal ever, she would do anything for me and I for her but I let her down. Annabeth, my wise girl, the love of my life. Cruelly taken from me, we were supposed to live the rest of our lives together, maybe study in new Rome, but the fates had decided her time was up. "I know it's probably the last thing you want to do but Zeus has insisted on having a council once you woke."

"Ugh, fuck," I groan out as I try to sit up but a sharp pain in my shoulder makes me collapse back down on the bed. I reach around with my right arm and feel a large dressing over where the arrow hit me.

"Here," my father extends his had to me. I take it and he helps me stand. "The bathrooms through there, go get dressed," he said while pointing to a door to my left. I hobble over slowly due to a pain in my ankle but it doesn't seem broken. I step into the bathroom and am assaulted with yet more gold. The shower, sink, toilet and the tiles were all gold. I take a quick shower and get dressed into blue jeans and a new camp t-shirt that were hanging on the back of the door. While I showered I noticed a number of small wounds and cuts covering my body, the only semi-serious injuries I seemed to have were the arrow wound and a sore ankle.

"I guess we should go listen to Zeus," I say without emotion as I walk back into the ward. I wasn't looking forward to listening to my egotistical uncle drone on but right now it didn't matter, I was still in shock after my losses. We walk from Apollo's temple which was also the hospital of Olympus to the throne room. There weren't many people in the streets but the ones that saw us just whispered to each other, I paid them no attention. I didn't care what people thought of me right now, the only thing that mattered to me were the ones that I had lost. We reach the large doors of the throne room and my dad turns to me and puts his hands gently on my shoulders.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for everything that happened." I could tell he was genuine, but it didn't seem to matter. They were gone, it wasn't his fault but they were still dead.

"Thanks, but it's not your fault," I tell him stiffly. He nods and pushes the ornate throne room doors open. We walk into the throne room of the gods and my dad walks ahead growing to his godly height of a little over 20 feet.

"Ah, Perseus you're awake," Zeus calls as he sees us enter. The little bits of chatter die out when people see me. I walk over to where Jason, Piper, Hazel and Frank along with Reyna and Nico are standing in the middle of the room. They all look terrible with numerous injuries and puffy eyes from crying. Leo was nowhere to be seen and I had a bad feeling in my gut. I hadn't known the son of Hephaestus for very long but on our travels we all grew close. "Iris!" Zeus calls out into the air, "Show us the camps please." Two Iris messages appear one showing the amphitheater with the Greek half-bloods and the other showing the fields of Mars and the legion assembled in their cohorts. There were a lot less demi-gods at both camps than there were before. The hunters were standing by Artemis' throne, there were only six of them left, I was happy to see Thalia was still alive.

"Heroes, today we are here to celebrate our victory over Gaia and her minions as well as to honor those that we lost," the king of the gods started. "After a hard fight against Gaia the power of Olympus overcame her. We must celebrate- "

"Bullshit!" my dad interrupted his brother. Zeus looked like he was about to blow a fuse, but Poseidon carried on. "You in your stupidity abandoned our children. We only won thanks to our children especially the seven." Zeus stood from his throne, his face red with anger.

"You dare Poseidon! I am the king of Olym-"Zeus started his handed twitching towards his master bolt. My dad stood from his throne, trident in hand.

"Brothers! Calm down!" a voice from the hearth interrupts. Hestia was stood emitting a calming and warm aura. "Nothing will be solved from shouting. What's happened is in the past all that left to do is reward and honor the heroes that saved us." Zeus opens his mouth to argue but is cut down by a glare from his eldest sibling. My father looks smug that Zeus lost and sits back down. Zeus just huffs and sits down as well. He adjusts his suit and looks back at us.

"Reyna Ramírez-Arellano, daughter of Bellona. Please step forward." Reyna takes a step towards Zeus's throne and bows. "For your bravery on your quest returning the Athena Parthenos as well as for leading the romans into battle we are willing to award you immortality. You would become the immortal praetor of New Rome. Do you accept?" Reyna looks surprised but quickly composes herself.

"I accept your gift Lord Zeus," she says confidently. She glows with a purple aura and when it dissipates Reyna stands there with her wounds healed. "Thank you, my lords and ladies," she bows to the council once again before making her way back to the group of us.

"Nico di Angelo, my son." Hades says, the lord of the dead is sitting on a guest throne a little way from the rest of the thrones. Nico approaches his father and bows.

"Father," Nico says after standing again.

"For attempting to find the doors of death as well as returning the Athena Parthenos and leading the Greeks. I offer you the opportunity to be crowned the prince of the underworld, my lieutenant and the king of ghosts." Pride was evident in Hades voice as he praised his son. I was happy for Nico he had a tough life and deserved his reward.

"Thank you father I accept," Nico answers his dad. Hades actually looked happy as Nico glowed with an eerie black light. Nico then appeared looking refreshed and he gives off a stronger aura of death. A small throne appears next to Hades, Nico takes his place next to his father.

"Piper Mclean," Aphrodite squeals. "For your work against Gaia and her forces we offer you minor godhood, you would become the goddess of compassion, trust and friends." Piper looks towards Jason who nods encouragingly at her.

"Mother I accept your offer on the one condition that Jason becomes immortal," Piper says confident now with Jason's reassurance. Aphrodite just nods happily, and Piper begins to glow pink. When the glow subsides, Piper looks perfect with her hair redone and new clothes.

Next were Frank and Hazel, they both had their curses lifted and offered minor godhood. Frank became the god of transformation and Hazel was the goddess of riches.

"Jason Grace, my son!" Zeus called. Jason stepped forwards towards the king of the gods and bowed.

"Father," Jason said respectfully.

"For your work against Gaia we offer you minor godhood over lightning," Zeus boomed. Jason looked incredibly happy with what he was being offered. I suppose he's inherited his fathers' lust for power but is just better at controlling it.

"Father I gladly accept," as soon as he finished he was surrounded by a blue light. Like the others he looked much more rested and had his wounds healed.

"Perseus Jackson, my son!" my father calls out, the hushed whispers from the iris messages immediately stop and I feel everyone's eyes on me. I walk up to my fathers' throne and bowed. "Percy, for everything you've done fighting Gaia's forces, not to mention single handedly defeating the Earth Mother herself. We offer you a position on the council as the god of storms, heroes and loyalty." I was shocked, I expected to be offered godhood but not a position on the council. I looked at my dad, I could see he wanted me to accept, his eyes were filled with pride. I thought about everything that had happened, I thought about Annabeth and I knew I couldn't live forever without her even if she wanted me to move on.

"Dad, council," I take a deep breath as I don't know how they will react to me declining again. Gods can be very prideful. "With all due respect I decline your offer." I look at my dad for his reaction, I see that he looked unsurprised. I looked to see everyone else, my friends all looked in shock that I would decline such an offer, except from Nico because he was there when I declined the first time. The camps both looked in shock as well. Zeus, Ares and a couple of the other gods looked angry and insulted. Artemis and Athena looked surprised and intrigued. Hestia just smiled at me.

"You dare refuse our generous offer again, mortal!" Zeus bellows at me. He stands and grabs his bolt yet again. I looked at the 2-foot cylinder and wonder if its going to be the last thing I see. I wasn't fussed that Zeus looked like he was about to kill me. Without Annabeth I don't see much in my future.

"You touch him and I will throw you in Tartarus myself," I hear two voices same simultaneously. I look and see my dad with the tip of his trident under Zeus' chin. What surprised me was Hades also had his sword at Zeus' chest and a look rage on his face.

"Brothers!" again Hestia stepped in between the standoff. She had aged to around 30, her flaming eyes making her younger siblings flinch. "If Perseus wishes not to join us then we should reward him some other way." Zeus opens his mouth to retort but is hit round the back of his head.

"Listen to Hestia," Hera tells her husband. "She has a point, Perseus has done so much for us we should honor him." Zeus glares at his wife but knows that he won't win against four of his siblings.

"Very well, Perseus do you have another wish?" Zeus says with obvious restraint in his voice.

"Yes, I have three requests that are well within your power, but I need you to swear on the Styx," I tell my uncle. Zeus hesitates before glares from his siblings make him grind his teeth and relent.

"We swear on the Styx to grant your wishes, so long that they are reasonable," Zeus says while looking at me with distaste, thunder rumbles in the distance signifying that the oath was made.

"First I want Hestia and Hades to get thrones on the council. They are two of the eldest children of Kronos and Rhea as well as being in control of powerful domains," I lay down my first request and Hestia and Hades both look shocked. I'm suddenly assaulted by a mass of brown hair as Hestia (who was back as an eight year old) ran at me and pulled me into a crushing hug squeezing the air out of me.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," she keeps repeating. She lets go of me and walked towards a new throne made of wood and flickering with flames. Hades approaches me as I tried to regain my breath from the super strength hug.

"Thank you, nephew," he says extending his hand to me.

"You both deserve it," I say while shaking his hand. I turn back to Zeus and prepare my second request. "Secondly, I want three memorials built, to remember those who have died. One on Olympus, one at Camp Half-Blood and the last at Camp Jupiter." I look around and see some gods such as Athena and Apollo nodding in agreement, I guess they lost lots of children in the fight.

"That can be done," Zeus decrees. "Athena, can you design something worthy?" he asks the wisdom goddess.

"Yes, father, I will design the monument," Athena says, I could already see her thinking of ideas.

"Well Jackson, what is your last request?" Zeus asks me. I take a deep breath, this will probably get me killed but at least I'll be with Annabeth.

"I want you to tell me why," I say looking my uncle straight in the eyes.

"Why what?" Zeus asks confused.

"Why did you abandon us? Why did you close of Olympus? Why did you leave us, your children to die in a fight that was yours, why Zeus?" I demand, my voice raising and cracking with emotion.

"You dare! I am the king of Olympus! I will not be disrespected but a mortal!" Zeus bellows grabbing his bolt for the third time this meeting. I don't flinch, I just look at him.

"Do it Zeus. I don't care anymore. Kill me because you won't admit that you were wrong." I spit out angrily. Why won't he just admit that he was wrong? I look at the council trying to catch a glimpse of the deities that I've fought for since I was twelve. My father, Hades, Hestia, Athena, Apollo, Aphrodite and surprisingly Artemis and Hera are all looking at Zeus with hatred.

"Father, all you have to do is admit that you were wrong. If you kill him, you'll be at war with half the council." Athena tells her father. Zeus looks infuriated but the gods at my defense don't back down.

"I," Zeus begins. He looks like admitting his wrongs will kill him. "I was wrong to shut off Olympus." He looks around at the gods who were still glaring at me.

"Go on," Hera tells him.

"I let my pride cloud my judgment and I made poor decision because of it and for that I'm sorry," Zeus manages to get out, it was forced but there was a hint of him being genuine. It was good enough so I just nodded.

"That's all," I said looking around the council of gods and bowing one last time.

"Wait, Percy my boy, you haven't asked for anything for yourself. There must be something we can grant you," my father says before I can leave the throne room. I stop and think, all I want is Annabeth and my mom back but I know that can't happen, so the next best thing to me is going back to my cabin and crying over my losses.

"Thanks dad but there's nothing I want, I don't want immortality without Annabeth," I say. My dad just looks at me for a minute, I could tell he was deep in thought.

"How about we grant you partial immortality like that of the hunters," my father suggests. I think about it for a second and realize that they're not going to let me leave without some sort of gift.

"Ok, I accept," I tell them. My dad looks at me with happiness. I glow a faint sea-green and feel slightly more energized. "Is that everything?"

"I believe so. Percy could you wait behind for a minute," my dad says.

"Okay council dismissed," Zeus decrees. The new minor gods and most of the council flash away. My father, Hades and Athena are all waiting behind looking at me. Hades approaches me first.

"Lord Hades," I bow to my uncle.

"Nephew, please enough with the formalities, call me Hades or uncle." He tells me, I was a little surprised, but Hades had always been different to most of the other gods.

"Very well Uncle, what can I do for you?" I ask the lord of the dead.

"I came to thank you. You have done a lot for me and Nico and I want you to know that you will always be welcome in my realm." He informs me, reaching out to shake hands again.

"Thank you," I say shaking his hand. He gives me a slight smile before being enveloped in shadows. Athena came up to me next. She looked rough for a goddess, her hair was a mess and her stormy, calculating eyes were red and puffy.

"Lady Athena," I bow to my now late-girlfriend's mom. She waves off my bow.

"Perseus, I want you to know that I approved of your relationship with my daughter. I know you will blame yourself for not being able to save her or your mother and step-father." She tells me, I look at her and can only see Annabeth. I choke back a sob as she continues. "There was nothing you could have done, it's not your fault. I also expect you to comply with my daughters last wish, I know it will take time but for Annabeth's sake I expect you to move on." She looks me in the eyes and I squirm, I want to respect Annabeth's wish I just don't know how I'll be able to.

"Thank you, Lady Athena, I will try to move on but I expect it will take a long time to get over her," I say my voice cracking with emotion. Athena just nodded and flashed away, leaving me with my father once again.

"Percy, please don't blame yourself for their deaths." He tells me.

"But how dad? If I was stronger I could have protected them, Mom and Paul were innocent. They only died because of me." I sob out my emotions take over yet again and I cry. My father wraps me in another hug and I just sob. Fifteen minutes later my sobs stopped echoing around the huge marble throne room.

"Percy, there was nothing you could have done. Gaia was a despicable goddess and you did everything you could." My father says while holding me at arm's length. "You should come visit Atlantis sometime soon. Now go get some rest." He flashes me back to cabin three and I collapse on a bed I haven't slept in for over nine months. I quietly weep myself to unconscious bliss.

 **Artemis POV**

I was sitting on the edge of my moon chariot looking down at the world below. My thoughts mainly on my lost hunters, however I found myself thinking a strange amount about Perseus Jackson. He is a very strange male, he's different to most others I've come across in all my millennia on this planet. What other male will decline godhood twice and use his wishes to better Olympus. Making sure that demi-gods were claimed, getting Hestia and Hades on the council, remembering the fallen over taking power for himself and forcing my father to apologize.

"He's strange male that's for sure," I say quietly to myself.

 **AN/: Wow that's over 3.5k. I know that its mostly just awards and quite slow but it allows for what's to come. Also I added a little Artemis POV at the end, Percy will be joining the hunt in the next chapter or 2.**

 **Please let me know what you think.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

 **Percy POV**

I woke up to a banging on my door.

"Hey Perce, can I come in?" I hear Nico call through the door. I rub my eyes and sit up, I was still dressed from the night before.

"Yeah," I call out weakly. My voice was horse from the amount of crying I'd done over the past day.

"Holy Zeus, you look shit!" Nico said as he walked towards my bed.

"Thanks," I reply sarcastically while pushing my unruly jet black hair out my face. "What are you doing here?"

"Checking on you. You've been through tons and no one had seen you since the reward ceremony, so Chiron sent me to find you." My cousin says while sitting down on the edge of my bed.

I look at my clock and see that its already 11am, I'd missed breakfast but that didn't matter as I wasn't hungry.

"I'm sorry about Annabeth and your parents," my now immortal cousin says softly.

"Thanks," I barely whisper out. I still couldn't believe that they were gone. I felt tears well up in my eyes. Nico just sits not saying anything. I could tell that we were both think of the three.

Nico never spent too much time with Paul but was a fan of my mom who treated him like a second son. Although he'd never admit it, I think that he liked being babied a little, I couldn't blame him, he'd been forced to grow up too fast. That's one of the many downsides of being a demi-god, your childhood ends as soon as you find out the truth about your parentage. Annabeth had also been a good friend of his, after Bianca died he started to look up to her in a similar way as he did to his late sister. Nico will be one of the ones most effected by her death out of everyone I think.

After around 10 minutes of sitting reminiscing memories, I was weeping silently and I could tell Nico was tearing up as well, he had turned away slightly to try hide the tears.

"There's a memorial ceremony at 1," Nico says slowly getting up off my bed. "Also, at 9 tonight there's celebration party on Olympus. Zeus is insisting that everyone attends both." I really didn't think that I could face either but after forcing Zeus to go by my commands yesterday I knew he wouldn't let me escape.

"Okay, I'll see you later then," I say just as Nico reaches the door to my cabin. As he leaves I fall back down onto my bed and just lie there. I don't know how long I was lying there but eventually I fell asleep again.

 **Linebreak**

I stand in the bathroom of my cabin. Once I had woken up again I decided to take a shower and now I was trying to figure out if I should wear my camp t-shirt from yesterday or a dark blue button-down shirt. I knew my mom would have wanted me to wear the button-down to the ceremony, but as it was from before I had been sent to the romans it was way too tight.

"Percy are you ready?" I hear Jason shout from outside.

"Coming!" I call back. I throw the t-shirt on and hobble out my cabin, my ankle still injured.

Outside there was the remainder of the seven along with Nico and Reyna. They were all wearing more formal clothes than me but I didn't really care.

"What are you wearing?" exclaimed Piper.

"I don't have anything else it's all too small," I shrug back.

We head to the amphitheater where the rest of the camp are already seated. The Olympians were all standing around the bonfire, Chiron stood next to them. The group of us all went and sat down on the first row.

"Campers," Chiron began. "Today we are here to honor those who lost their lives in the fight against Gaia."

The next hour passed in a blur with each Olympian who had lost children walking up and burning their shrouds. Eventually I look back at the gods.

"Leo Valdez, son of Hephaestus. He was one of the prophesied seven and has a great hero. He unfortunately lost his life bravely fighting his father's bane, Mimas." Chiron said solemnly. As the god of the forge walked up to the bonfire with a shroud covered with cogs and gears. Flames seemed to flicker around the shroud before it even reached the fire. I hadn't spent too much time with the Latino mechanic but losing him still hurt but compared to the pain I felt for Annabeth it was nothing.

"Annabeth Chase," Chiron said and immediately my breath hitched. "She was the daughter Athena and one of the greatest heroes in the past millennia." That was something I defiantly agreed with. "She part part of the quest to retrieve Lord Zeus' master bolt, she also helped retrieve the golden fleece from Polyphemus." I feel more tears fall down my face as I remember our adventures together and how many times she saved my life.

"Perce you alright?" Jason whispers to me from my left. I nod hesitantly not trusting myself to speak for fear of breaking down completely.

"-She helped find Daedalus in the labyrinth and fought bravely in the battle that then ensued." Chiron continued. "She was part of the battle of Manhattan and played a key part in defeating Kronos." I could see that the centaur was starting to tear up, Annabeth was like a daughter to him. "She then went to the ancient lands and fought numerous giants. She unfortunately was killed by Gaia herself."

As Chiron spoke I wouldn't help but blame myself for her death. I should have been able to save her. She wouldn't have been in danger if Gaia wasn't trying to get to me, I should have been more careful.

"She was a talented architect and her work will forever be immortalized on Olympus. She was a true friend, sister and hero." As Chiron spoke Athena walked up to the bonfire. I could see tears falling from the wisdom goddess eyes.

In her hands she held a beautiful shroud. It was grey with a large owl on the front. The owl's eyes were exactly the same shade as Annabeth's and seemed to follow you. A sob escaped me as I noticed that down at the bottom there was a wave pattern.

As I watched the shroud burn memories of my lover raced through my mind. It soon became too much, and I stood up, I pushed my way past Jason and Piper and ran from the amphitheater. I ran with tears flowing down my face like a river, I barely noticed the pain from my ankle that was still tender. I didn't think about where I was going, I just had to get away from everyone. I came to a stop and I noticed that I was on the beach in mine and Annabeth's favorite spot, I collapsed to my knees and let the self-induced blame wash over me.

I have no idea how long I cried for, wallowing in my sorrow. I felt someone sit next to me and wrap their arms around be in a comforting hug. I look to my side and see Piper crying as well. Nico, Athena, Jason, Hestia and my father are all standing a few feet away. I see Chiron shooing some campers away from coming near the part of the beach I was on.

"Why Percy? Why do you blame yourself?" Piper sobbed into my shoulder.

I look at tear filled kaleidoscope eyes. "What? How did you know?"

"Because we know you and your habit of blaming yourself when you lose someone. Also, you were talking out loud to yourself while you cried."

"I should have been there for her. I should have been faster, it's my fault" I say back, nearing a breakdown again. I then feel a sharp pain in the back of my head.

"The fuck?" I curse as I turn around. I see Athena pulling her foot back from where it collided with the back of my head.

"Don't you dare blame yourself for my daughter's death!" the wisdom goddess scolds me. "She died a hero's death at the hands of a deranged primordial. It is not your fault, there is nothing you could have done. We both know she and your mother would be furious with you if she knew that you were blaming yourself."

She was right of course, but still I couldn't help but keep wondering if there was something I could have done to keep them alive.

Athena facial expression softened, "I know it's hard, but she wanted you to move on. Imagine the rant you would have to deal with if any of them saw you like this, blaming yourself."

"Your right Lady Athena," I say.

"Aren't I always," she says raising an eyebrow. I can't let but let and another choked sob as I remember Annabeth saying the same thing to me on the deck of the Argo.

"If you lot would mind leaving I think it would help Perseus if he had some time relaxing before tonight," Hestia said to the others that were standing by me. They all nod and begin to walk away.

Hestia comes and sits down next to me. She waves her hand and a small fire appears built in the sand in front of us. I started to feel a calm and warm aura envelop me like a blanket.

"Perseus, if its okay with you I wonder if it might help you to talk about her," she says.

We sat there in the sand for hours, me talking about mine and Annabeth's adventures and the good times we shared, Hestia just sitting there listing to me. She gave the occasional prompt when she could tell I was struggling. I found it surprisingly easy and just went into auto-pilot reminiscing.

 **Linebreak**

It was getting dark and me and Hestia were still talking on the beach.

"Opps, oh dear we're a little late for the party," Hestia says. I'm not sure how she knew what the time was but going by the sky it was late. "I'll just flash us straight to Olympus," she says standing and brushing off sand.

"Thanks for the talk Lady Hestia," I say respectfully to the 8-year old looking goddess in front of me.

"There is no need to thank me Perseus," she said. "It is I who should be thanking you for sharing your stories with me."

"How about this," I say to her, "You stop calling me Perseus and call me Percy instead and then we're even." She smiles at me and offers me her hand.

"Deal, now come on we're late."

I took her hand and she flashed us off to Olympus. As soon as we arrived my senses were immediately assaulted. The Nine Muses were playing music, with peoples voices barely carrying over the songs. There were decorations hanging off pillars, tables groaning under the weight of mortal food and drink as well as nectar and ambrosia. The smell coming off the tables was divine (pun intended).

"Try to enjoy yourself Percy," Hestia says. "I hope to see you again soon." The girl-goddess turned and walked away from me into the party.

I suppose I should try forget about everything for the night, I think to myself. I begin to walk towards a table that was filled with goblets. They were all filled with coke, it wasn't blue but it would do.

 **Time skip -2 hours**

I was walking away from the main party with a goblet of beer in my hand. Although I wasn't legally allowed to drink it the Stoll brothers had stolen it and insisted I take it. No matter how hard I tried I couldn't think about anything other than Annabeth, my mom and Paul, I kept replaying their deaths, trying to find some way to have helped them.

I found myself in a quiet park and sat down on the grass while staring up at the sky. I was looking at my favorite constellation, the huntress, otherwise known as Zoe Nightshade, she was shining brightly through the clear night sky. I thought about the quest I went on with her to rescue Annabeth and Artemis.

"Zoe seems happy tonight," a female voice breaks me out my thoughts. I jump and turn to the source of the voice, the goddess it belongs to surprises me. Why would she want to talk to me?

 **Artemis POV**

I see Perseus Jackson, our two times savior walking away from the party. He had a goblet in his hand and a sad and thoughtful expression on his face. Confused as to why he would be leaving rather than enjoying himself at the party I decide to follow him. I'm not sure why I cared what a male was doing even if it was Perseus, as I weave through the dancing crowd I pick up a glass of nectar.

I follow him to one of Demeter's many gardens, he sits down on the grass and looks up at the sky. I notice that my faithful ex-lieutenant's constellation was shining brightly, she must be happy as the constellation's appearance is based off her emotions. I look back at Perseus and notice that he is looking at Zoe.

"Zoe seems happy tonight," I say alerting him to my presence. He jumps and turns to face me.

"Lady Artemis," he said while bowing his head, "what can I do for you?"

"Why are you not taking part in the party?" I enquire. I walk closer towards him and when I'm about 5 feet from the son of Poseidon I sit down on the grass, setting my nectar beside me.

"I was but I couldn't stop thinking about my parents and Annabeth," he tells me looking down in sadness. I understand what he's feeling, every time one of my hunters dies I relive their death trying to find a way I could have saved them.

"Annabeth was a very powerful maiden and a great hero, I would have been honored to have her in the hunt. I know that she would never have left you though, do not blame yourself." I tell him, I'm not sure why but I feel the need to console the demi-god. It must be because he lost so much fighting for us, I tell myself. "Your mother although obviously not a maiden was a great woman nonetheless, your step-father-"I pause unsure what to say. Yes, he seemed good for a male but who knew if that was all genuine. "He obviously cared for your mother."

Perseus looked up at me, his normally bright sea-green eyes were now dull. "Thank you, Lady Artemis,"

We sit there in silence for a minute. I take a sip of my nectar, "Yesterday…" He looked at me again. "Why did you make my father admit he was wrong and apologies?" I wasn't annoyed or anything, I was genuinely curious as to why he would use one of his wishes on that. I will be the first to admit that my father is more than often incredibly prideful and stubborn, he embodies all of the characteristics of males that I despise.

"Because," Perseus started before pausing. "I guess I did it because he needed to realize that he's not the all-powerful, all knowing king he thinks he is. He was stupid thinking that closing off Olympus would do any good, just because he felt insulted. He let his pride rule over what was right and that lead to unnecessary deaths and difficulties."

I nod in understanding. "Well he does need to be brought back down to reality that's for sure." The black haired teenager gives me a small smile and then take a sip from his goblet. I notice that he's drinking beer. "How did you get that?" I knew that the demi-god sitting before me was horrendous at being anything near subtle or stealthy, so I was intrigued as to how he managed to get the drink.

"A couple of Hermes' kids forced me to have it," he tells me panicking slightly.

"That makes sense, I'll let you get away with it tonight," I tell him. He could be lying and might have asked them to steal it but his shock seemed genuine enough. It was also something children of Hermes were likely to do.

My internal sense of time was telling me that it was a little past midnight, the campers all went back at midnight. I cursed, "The campers all went back around 10 minutes ago," I tell Perseus.

"Ah shit," was his intelligent response.

"I'll have flash you back," I tell him. I extend my had to him. He looks gingerly at my hand. "Come on you don't have all night," I say impatiently. He takes my hand carefully, I laugh a little inside about how scared he is, I suppose my reputation must be putting him off. I flash us to just outside my Uncles cabin.

"Thank you, Lady Artemis and goodnight," he says bowing before heading inside.

 **Time Skip -7 days**

 **Percy POV**

It had been a week since the shroud burning, my talk with Hestia, the party and my awkward and unexpected talk with Artemis. It hadn't been a good week, I barely left my cabin, hell I barely left my bed. I went to probably one meal a day and spent the rest of my time in my cabin mourning my losses. Life just seemed so pointless now that I had lost such major people in my life.

That night it all got too much for me. I was sitting on my bed, riptide in my hands. I looked at the bronze blade, it had been with me through so much but it was over now. There was just nothing I could see myself living for, it seemed like a better option to join my girlfriend and parents in Elysium. I placed a note to Chiron that I had written explaining why I had done what I was about to do. I held riptide at arms length, the tip pointing into my chest. I took a deep breath and was about to end it all.

"Perseus Jackson!" someone shouts as brown haired woman tackles me back, knocking my sword out my hand. I feel a sharp pain on my cheek, I look to see a 30 year old Hestia straddling me and preparing to slap me again.

"What in Hades name are you doing!" she screams, bring her hand down on my other cheek. I explain to her about how I feel. That without Annabeth I don't see a point, without my mom I don't have anyone to go to for advice and it's another thing that is no longer keeping me in the realm of the living.

Hestia just pulls me into a hug and listens. When I'm finished I'm crying yet again. She looks up to me, her flaming brown eyes meeting my broken, sea-green ones.

"Percy, I know it's hard, I also know how sad Annabeth and your parents would be if they saw you like this." She says to me. "I know this might seem a little soon after Sally," she takes a deep breath and fiddles with her hands nervously. "I was wondering if you would let me adopt you? It's fine if you say no, but your my favorite demi-god, you have a pure heart and inspire hope. I've always wanted a child, so Percy would you be my son?"

I was shocked, I hadn't expected anything like this. I thought about her offer, I knew my mom loved Hestia and she was my favorite goddess. I looked at the eldest child of Kronos and the woman that saved me from myself. I had my answer.

"I would love that, mom."

 **AN/: If anyone has experienced suicidal thoughts/action or knows anyone who has, please know that there are people how are there for you. Friends, family, medical professionals please seek help, your not alone. I have problems with depression and other mental illnesses and I hope that anyone with any sort of mental issues knows that there are people out here to support and help them.**

 **On another note….. Percy will now be Hestia's adopted son. I hope this chapter was better and more interesting than the last few. Next chapter we'll probably have some hunt action.**

 **Please review and let me know what you think.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN/: Chapter 5 is here! I just want to say a quick thanks to everyone. This story hit 1000 views yesterday and I find it insane that 4 days after being published the story is already growing so much. So thanks to everyone who has read/favorited/followed.**

 **Chapter 5**

 **Percy POV**

As I agreed to Hestia's offer the goddess of the hearth's face fit up. Literally, her eyes and hair burst into flames before she regained control and put them out. She pulled me into another hug.

"Thank you, Percy, I've always wanted a child and I couldn't think of anyone I'd prefer," she said happiness obvious in her voice. She pulls back from me with a huge smile on her face. She puts her hand gently on my chest, just about where my heart is. Her hand glows a warm orangey-brown color. She pulls her hand back and my entire body glows the same color her hand had.

"Eugh," I groan as I'm hit by a sudden wave of nausea.

"Well you certainly look different," Hestia observed.

"Huh?"

"Here," she summons a mirror with a wave of her hand. I let out a little gasp as I look at myself.

Due to my week of barely eating or leaving my cabin my normally tanned skin was much paler and I had lost weight. It was more noticeable around my face. However compared to the changes I got from being adopted they were minimal. My jet-black hair now seemed to have flames flickering in it. My broken sea-green eyes now had a ring of orange around the iris with flecks of brown mixed in with the green. I also felt like my body temperature was a little higher, yet I still felt comfortable.

"Your hair will probably be like mine and the flames appear when your feeling strong emotions," my new mom tells me.

"That's probably good or it might worry people," I say while closely inspecting my eyes, in my opinion they looked really cool. Hestia chuckled a little.

"Your eyes are certainly even more unique now."

"Hey Mom?" I say, turning back to the goddess. She looks at me, her face joyful. "How did you know what I was doing?"

Her face loses its happy expression. "As you know I'm the goddess of the hearth, home, hope and family." I nod knowing this already. "When we had talked before I felt your lack of hope and the loss of your family. Tonight though I felt what little hope you had left snap and I knew that you didn't feel like you were home here." I felt a little ashamed at what I attempted to do, my adoption has given me more hope however I still feel the emptiness and despair inside me.

"I wouldn't have normally have been able to tell your lack of hope from so far away however, you and hope are entwined. You gave hope to the demi-gods in both wars, you also gave hope to a lot of the gods, myself included." Hestia continues. "This means that you have a very deep connection with hope, this connection has now only grown stronger now you're my son."

"Thank you," I mutter softly. I didn't feel as suicidal as I did before, this might be due to my adoption by the goddess of hope sitting next to me.

"There's no need to feel ashamed," Hestia says gently laying a hand on my shoulder. "Anyone who went through half of what you have would feel the same."

I look into her eyes, my own starting to tear up. I pull her into a hug.

"Thank you," I say quietly. "I love you Mom," I never thought I'd say those words again yet here I was, the words feeling right coming from my mouth.

Hestia smiles at me. "I love you too, son." We pull back from the hug. "Now," she said with a mischievous expression, "bedtime."

"But-" I tried to argue.

"No buts, it's late and you need to sleep." She told me sternly.

I knew that I wasn't going to win this. I got up off my bed muttering about how I'm 18 and don't need to be told when to go to bed.

"Stop moaning," my mom chided. "Tomorrow we'll test your new powers." I grinned, I couldn't wait to see what I got.

"What abilities will I have?"

"You'll find out tomorrow," was her reply. "We should also visit your father and tell him about your adoption." Oh shit, I thought to myself. How was dad going to react?

Hestia saw my expression, "Relax, he'll may be a little surprised but I'm his favorite sister, so it'll be fine." She comes forward and kisses my forehead. "I'll see you tomorrow." Then flashes out.

I stripped down to my boxers and crawled into bed. I drifted off to sleep with a faint smile on my face and I was feeling more hopeful than I had in a while.

 **Linebreak**

I woke to sunlight streaming through my window, I had forgotten to close the blind. I rubbed my eyes and sat up, throwing off the covers. I went to the bathroom and freshened up, I came out with a towel wrapped around my waist. I noticed a note pinned to the door of my closet, I pulled it off and read it:

 _Percy, I decided to get you some clothes that actually fit. I'll meet you at 10am for training.  
Love, your new Mom_

I opened the closet and saw that it was now full of new clothes, it previously still had the clothes from before I was kidnapped. I decided on some sandy colored cargo shorts and a blue-green tank-top. I slipped on a pair of white Nikes. These were good training clothes no matter what I ended up doing. I tried to tame my hair down but quickly gave up. I looked at the clock and saw that it was already 9:30, I decided to go down to the beach and wait until my mom came to help train.

I left my cabin and walked towards the beach, I got a few glances as I had barely left my cabin since I returned. I didn't pay any attention to anyone I just walked straight to the beach. I sat down watching the waves lap against the sand. I was thinking about what abilities I might have inherited from my new mom.

"Are you ready?" I hear Hestia's voice break me out my thoughts. Today she was back as her usual 8 year old self.

"Yeah, what are we doing?" I asked, she just offered me her hand.

"Come on,"

"Where are we going?" I ask taking her hand anyway. She doesn't reply and just flashes us off. We re-appear on the lawn of a beautiful sunny garden. "Where are we?"

"My garden," my mom replies. She walks over to a deck chair and sits down. She waves her hand and a glass of nectar appears in her hand and sunglasses and a large floppy hat are on her head. "It's behind my temple/house on Olympus."

I look around the garden in awe, it was amazing. There were so many colors that all went perfectly together. I was brought out of my wonder by my stomach growling.

"Did you eat this morning?"

"No," I replied, "I woke up too late."

"Well that's your first lesson," she says taking a sip of her nectar. "From me you will have inherited the ability to summon home made food. Just think of what you want and try make it appear. Start with something small."

I focus on a PB&J sandwich and try to make it appear in my hand. I feel something sicky in my hand. I look down and see a lump of peanut butter in my hand. I hear my mom laugh as I drop the failed attempt at a sandwich.

"Well that's alright for a first try," my mom says while handing me a glass of water.

"That took a lot of energy," I pant out, sweat glinting on my forehead. I take the water and down half of it in two large mouthfuls.

"You'll get better with practice," Hestia assures me. "Take a minute to rest," she tells me, gesturing to another deckchair next to her.

I take a seat and finish my water. "Mom, how come you can interact with me against the ancient laws?" She just smiles slyly at me.

"The law about parents and demi-gods was made by Zeus to stop favoritism and from any demi-god becoming too powerful." I nod along with this as it makes sense. "When a new ancient law is passed each god has to swear to that law. However, as myself and Artemis are sworn maidens Zeus didn't feel the need to make us swear to that law. In short that law doesn't apply to me, so I can spoil you all I want."

"Won't Zeus be angry that you've 'had' a child and have found a way around his law?"

"Meh," she just shrugs. "There's nothing he can really do to me. Although it doesn't seem it, as the eldest child of Kronos and Rhea I am the most powerful of all my siblings by quite a bit."

I smile at the thought of Zeus getting his ass handed to him by his sister.

"So what other powers will I have?"

"You'll be able to summon flames as well as inspire hope and calmness. You'll be fireproof and heat won't bother you as much." She answers me, "I'm not sure what else you'll have. Now back to training."

 **Linebreak**

I collapsed to my knees in exhaustion, sweat dripping down my face and my breath was heaving. I had finally managed to summon a ball of fire the size of a cantaloupe in my palm. I had been working endlessly for the past 6 hours, I had only been able to eat what I could summon. This meant that I had only eaten a peanut butter sandwich, it was supposed to be PB&J but it didn't work. I had been dinking more water than humanly possible, quite literally only a child of the sea could drink as much as I could.

"Well done, it only took you 6 hours,"

"Hey, just because I wasn't born with this power," I panted out.

"Well you've done well for your first day. Now you need to get cleaned up before we visit your father." My 8 year old looking mom told me. She led me inside and showed me to the shower. "Don't take too long."

When I got out the shower I saw a pile of clothes on a chair. I got dressed into the pair of blue jeans and white T-shirt. I left to go look for my mom, I found her in the kitchen drinking a cappuccino infused with nectar.

"Good you're ready," she said once she'd noticed me. She sent down her drink and grabbed my hand flashing us off to Atlantis.

We appeared in my father's throne room. The beauty of this room couldn't be described. The ceiling was about 35 feet high, there was arches towering all the way up. The walls were etched with intricate pictures of sea-life and the battles protecting Atlantis from Oceanus.

"Lady Hestia, what brings you here with Perseus?" Amphitrite asks Hestia, bowing at my mom and a slight look of disgust on her face when she said my name.

"Greetings Amphitrite, we need to speak to my brother."

"I'm sure he was already sensed your presence and is on his way here as we speak," my step-mother told my adoptive mother. Just as she finished speaking my father appeared. He looked the same as before with a tall, muscular frame. A neatly trimmed black beard and tanned skin. His eyes were like mine before my adoption.

"Sister, Percy, what brings you to my realm?" He asks.

"We have a private matter that you need to be informed on," my mom/aunt (that's a weird thought) told her brother cryptically.

"I'll take my leave then, it was a pleasure meeting you again Lady Hestia," Amphitrite says politely, you could tell she was a little annoyed that she wouldn't be part of the discussion.

"So what is it you need to tell me?" my dad asks sitting in his throne as the doors close behind his wife.

"Well um Dad…" I start nervously, I'm not sure how to tell him that I've been adopted by his sister.

"I need you to remain calm Poseidon," my mom cuts in. My father looks confused but consents anyway. "I have adopted Perseus."

"WHAT!" my father bellows. "You adopted my son without my permission!"

"Dad! Please calm down and let us explain," I request of my father. He settles down slightly but still looks pissed.

We proceeded to explain about my suicide attempt and complete loss of hope and how Hestia saved me and then asked to adopt me. During the story my father pulls me into a strong hug, I could tell he was trying not to cry. At the end of the story my father releases me and pulls his sister into a hug.

"Thank you, sister. Thank you for saving my son. I'm sorry I lost my temper, I couldn't think of anyone better for Percy. I know Sally also was a fan of you." He says quietly.

"Thank you for understanding brother. I love Percy as if he were my own blood however I am not trying to take him away from you." My mom says, she grew to her 30 year old form and gave my father another hug.

Thunder rumbled loudly in the distance, considering how deep in the ocean we were it shouldn't normally have been audible.

"Zeus is calling for an emergency meeting," both my parents say at the same time.

"Come Percy, there isn't time to take you to camp," my father says extending his hand. I take it and we appear in the throne room of the gods.

"Poseidon, what is Perseus doing here?" Zeus questions.

"He was spending time in my domain when you called the meeting, so I brought him along."

"Very well, Perseus take a seat at your father's throne."

My father summons me a chair by his fishing chair inspired throne, I obey my uncles order and sit

"Father why have you summoned this meeting?" asks Artemis once everyone had flashed in. Zeus just looks at Apollo and gestures to him to start talking.

"I feel a new great prophecy is about to be issued," the sun god says. I notice that my friend Rachel Dare the oracle is sitting on a cushion by Apollo's throne. The gods immediately start debating when Apollo had finished.

"SILENCE!" bellowed the king of the gods, thunder was booming around the throne room. Immediately everyone falls quiet. Just then Rachel fell forwards and green smoke poured from her mouth. She started talking in a raspy voice:

 **Her husband comes to avenge them all,**

 **Intent on making Olympus fall.**

 **The broken and the maidens must unite,**

 **To have a chance in the hardest fight.**

 **Savior saved by unexpected family,**

 **A false oath's truth is the key.**

Rachel falls unconscious and the gods are all silent thinking about the new threat. One thing is clear…. there's going to be another war.

 **AN/: That's the end of the chapter. Sorry that there's no hunt but there will be next chapter I promise. That's the new great prophecy that will determine the coming war.**

 **I hope you enjoyed, please let me know what you think. Good, bad whatever any feedback is more than welcome.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 **Third Person POV**

All of a sudden the throne room of Olympus erupted into chaos. Each divine deity speaking at once, asking questions to no one in particular. Only a few of the beings present in the grand room were quiet, one of these people was Percy Jackson. He was sitting on a chair by his father's throne, a terrified expression was on his face and he was clutching the arms of the chair so hard his knuckles were white.

Unknown to him was that he was being watched by two goddesses, one with flaming brown eyes, the other with striking silver eyes.

"Silence!" both Hestia and Artemis shouted. At once everyone fell quiet. It wasn't unusual for Artemis to raise her voice however Hestia never shouted.

"Be quiet the lot of you," Hestia scolds them. "Nothing will be gained from shouting over each other. Now we need to take a logical approach to figuring out this prophecy."

"Hestia is right," agreed Zeus, he turned to one of his daughters. "Athena do you have any ideas what this could be about?"

Athena stayed quiet for a minute. "Well I believe the mentioning of maidens is a reference to the hunters, as for who the threat is I'm not entirely sure."

Artemis looked slightly afraid for her hunters, there were only six of them after the last war. She put her worries aside and steeled her expression.

"I believe that someone else has an idea of who we might be facing," she says looking at the distressed son of Poseidon.

Everyone else in the throne room followed her gaze to Percy.

 **Percy POV**

As the prophecy was issued I knew exactly who the next threat was. I was vaguely aware of the gods all talking but I was too lost in my thoughts. All of a sudden I realized that the gods had fallen silent and were all looking at me.

"Percy, my boy. What's wrong? Do you know anything about the prophecy?" my father asked worriedly. I realized that I had been gripping my armrests hard enough to turn my knuckles white. I let go and took a deep breath.

"Yes, I know who we're facing," I took a minute to continue. The fear I felt when I met them before was overwhelming me.

"Well boy, who is it?" Zeus demanded.

"Tartarus," I said hollowly. The memories of my time in the pit all flashing through my mind. None worse than when he appeared at the doors of death.

"Are you sure Percy?" my father asks, I just nod. "What makes you so definite?"

"Gaia." The memories of what she said before I killed her repeating in my mind. I could swear I could hear her laughing. _I told you little hero, you don't stand a chance_. I shook my head and tried to control my thoughts.

I looked back at the gods and saw them confused. "Before I killed her she said that we've angered 'him' and that he's coming." I proceeded to tell them what Gaia said before I killed her. "It also fits with the prophecy, after the Titans fell the first time, Gaia married Tartarus. Also he is possibly the only being who would care to avenge them and would be the hardest to fight."

Everyone looked a mixture of surprise that I had worked out the threat and fear at the new enemy.

"I think he's right," Athena broke the silence. "But there's still the other lines to figure out."

"Prophecies are often hard to interpret until they have come to pass," said Apollo, he looked unusually serious but when you find that the personification of hell is waging war on you it does tend to make you a little more serious.

"Indeed," Hestia agreed. "However I think I can understand a little bit more of it." This drew everyone's attention back to the 20 foot eight year old. "I believe that the broken and the savior that are mentioned are the same person."

"What makes you say that? That would mean you think you know who it is." Inquired Athena. It was obvious that she was annoyed that other people understood the prophecy more than her.

"I believe I do." Hestia replied confidently. "I believe that it is Percy."

Everyone looked at the eldest Olympian shocked then to me. They were obviously shocked that I might be the subject of three great prophecies in a row. I personally hoped that I wasn't but knowing my luck I was.

"What is your reason for that? We don't know when this prophecy will take place." Zeus said.

"Yes your right. However," continued Hestia still confident in her theory. "Gaia said 'You've angered him' this could mean us as in the Olympians or more specifically Percy. If he's coming for revenge like the prophecy says then the one who would be he main target would be Percy, as he killed Gaia and most of their children."

Great, just great. My own mom thought that the evil god of Greek hell wanted to specifically hunt me down. I was fucked.

"As Percy is a mortal Tartarus would most likely to try and attack while Percy is still alive." Hestia continued to explain her hypothesis and continued to make me terrified of the future. "We know from Percy's experience in the pit that he is awake and somewhat active now."

"Savior saved by unexpected family," Athena mutters to herself under her breath. She was deep in thought, she looked up back at my mom. "But what would make Percy qualify as 'broken'?"

My mom looks at me, _I think they need to know._ I jumped slightly when I heard her voice then I realized that she was talking to me telepathically. I didn't know how to reply so I just nodded.

"After everything that happened," my mom said. "Percy was sent into depression."

I zoned out as my mom talked about what I went through. The thoughts of my mortal parents and Annabeth in my mind. Although my adoption helped I was still depressed and still blamed myself, I tried to hide it because I knew that if my mom, dad or Athena saw they would get annoyed at me. I couldn't help but blame myself though.

"-and that is what I think qualifies Percy as broken." I zoned back in to hear my mom say. I looked around and saw most of the gods looked sad, she must have told them about my suicide attempt. Ares, Dionysus and Zeus looked like they couldn't care less.

"Well I certainly believe that would fit the description of broken," Demeter said, this surprised most of the council and me as Demeter never really paid much attention to demi-gods other than her kids.

"So Perseus is the broken and savior mentioned in the prophecy, the threat is Tartarus and the maidens are the hunters." Zeus summarized. "Does anyone have anything else to add?" He asked looking around the council.

"Yes," this came from my mom again.

"You think you know more?" Zeus asked. I have no idea how my mom knew more.

"Well its not completely to do with the prophecy however it might slightly explain one line."

"Go on,"

I had a bad feeling what she was talking about, if she told Zeus about my adoption he would flip.

"After I, ah how should I put this, After I 'interrupted' Percy the other night. I had a request for him." This got all of the council's attention, apart from Dionysus who had fallen asleep. "I asked him if he would allow me to adopt him, which I am happy to say he accepted." My mom told the council of the gods happily.

"What!" Zeus shot from his throne. "This is unacceptable." His hair was sparking with electricity. "I will not have this!"

"In what way is this unacceptable?" my mom countered angerly.

"You are a sworn maiden!"

"Yes, I am and that has not changed! I adopted Perseus and love him as if my own blood ran through his veins, but I am still a maiden." My mom defended herself, I could see her eyes flicker dangerously however Zeus seemed to miss this or not think that it was anything to pay attention to.

"I will not have this! I demand you disown him or I will kill him!" Zeus screamed.

"You will not dare!" my mom said shooting up from her throne. She aged to her 30 year old form and flames radiated from her. Her hair and eyes were pure flames and she looked terrifying. I could feel the raw power flowing off the eldest Olympian.

I looked around and saw the rest of the council looking in shock and fear at flaming inferno that was my mom. This was the first time any of them had seen Hestia this angary or felt the power that she contained when ready to fight. My father, Demeter, Hades and Hera all looked surprised as Hestia never unleashed this much power even in the first Titan war.

"Brother," my mom spat out. "If you even try to harm my son I will burn you to a crisp."

Zeus shrank back into his throne and looked scared of his eldest sibling, this was the first time she had ever made a threat in her life and he could tell she was serious. In desperation he looked to my father for help.

"Poseidon, you can't be alright with her adopting your son?"

"Actually, I am." My father replied, there was a hint of amusement in his voice at how scared Zeus was. "Although I would have liked it if she had told me before she adopted him, I couldn't think of anyone better to adopt my son. I know Sally was a huge fan of Hestia as is Percy. With this new threat of Tartarus rising I am even more glad she has done this for my son. So brother, sit down and accept that Percy is now not only my son but Hestia's, if you cannot accept this then I will stand by our sister in defending Percy."

Zeus opened his mouth to retort but closed it from a glare from both my parents. He just took a deep breath; his face was red with anger but he knew I couldn't do anything about my adoption. My mom was right when she said she was the most powerful of the gods, and Zeus now realized it as well.

My mom extinguished her hair but her eyes remained flickering and she stayed in her older form. "So does anyone have anything else to say?" She asked while sitting back down, still sending the occasional glare at her youngest brother

"The broken and the maidens must unite," Hephaestus said, "We've established that Perseus is the broken and that the maidens are the hunt. What does that line mean then?"

Aphrodite squealed, and everyone looked at her.

"Well," she smiled and I involuntary shivered. "I think a good step would be to have Percy travel with the hunt."

"What!" both me and Artemis shouted. Artemis turned to glare at the love goddess.

"I will not have a male traveling with the hunt!" she screamed at Aphrodite who just smiled.

"But Arty, how are your hunters and Percy going to unite if you don't get to know each other?" she said still smiling.

Artemis drew an arrow and was about to fire it at the love goddess. "Don't call me Arty!"

"Artemis!" Zeus called out. "Calm down."

The goddess of the hunt lowered her bow but still was glaring at Aphrodite. She turned to glare at me.

"Why did you object to having to travel with the hunt?" she asked me, I could tell that one wrong word and I would be a woodland animal of some sort.

"I, err, I know the views that you and your hunters have." I started off nervously. "I agree with a lot of them, I also know that neither they or you would like me in your presence." I hoped that this was enough to stop me becoming a pin cushion. I didn't have anything against the hunt, but I knew if I was with them I would be lucky to survive a week and I could almost guarantee that even if I did I would be missing a certain part of my anatomy.

Artemis didn't turn me into a jackalope and I let out a sigh of relief

"I think Aphrodite made a good point," Athena said, this was possibly the first time she had ever said that.

"What! You can't be serious!" Artemis exclaimed in disbelief. I was also shocked that Athena would agree.

"I am," the wisdom goddess said. "If the prophecy says that your hunters and Perseus need to work together then it would make sense for Perseus to travel with you."

Artemins was about to reply, probably with how I was a male and how I wouldn't be allowed in the hunt but Zeus cleared his throat before she could speak.

"I agree that this would be the best course of action," he said to the disbelief of both me and Artemis.

"What? Father you can't be serious!"

"Quiet, I am serious." Zeus said sternly. "The hunt is low on numbers and I would feel better knowing that you have, although I hate to admit it, the most powerful demi-god possibly ever. Perseus is talented with a sword and with Hestia's adoption even more powerful and could help while the hunt is low on numbers. It will also keep Perseus from being in one place for too long, if he is one of Tartarus's main targets then it is safer for him to keep moving."

I couldn't believe that I might have to travel with the hunt. I looked at my mom and saw her smile slightly at me, she didn't speak up though.

"All those in favor of having Perseus travel with the hunt?" Zeus questioned. Aphrodite, Athena, Hera, Demeter, Hephaestus, Apollo, Zeus, Hades and to my surprise both my parents raised their hands.

Artemis looked furious and I felt like I'd just had my death certificate signed.

"Motion passed," Zeus decreed, "Perseus will now travel with the hunt until further notice. Does anyone have anything else to say?"

Artemis opened her mouth but Zeus interrupted her, "About anything apart from Perseus traveling with the hunt," he added on. No one spoke up. "Alright, council dismissed." All the council apart from my parents as well as Artemis and Apollo flashed away.

Apollo walked up to me, shrinking as he approached. "Alright cuz, I want you to come to weekly therapy sessions." I opened my mouth to argue. "No your coming, doctors orders, I'll come pick you up when it's time for them." He held his arm out for a fist-bump. "Good luck with the girl scouts, also keep an eye on Arty for me." He added quietly so his twin couldn't hear him.

He flashed away and I was approached by both my parents, now they were both at mortal size.

"You're probably wondering why we voted for you to go with the hunt," my father started off. I nodded.

"Well the prophecy does say you need to work with them," my mom explained. "Also Zeus would have made sure you were under some sort of supervision now that I adopted you and you're more powerful."

I nodded as this sounds like something my paranoid uncle would do.

"Also I think it would be good for you to see your cousin again," my mom said. It was true, apart from a brief conversation before the battle with Gaia we hadn't talked properly in a long time.

My father pulled me into a manly hug, "Remember that I love you. Also you should come down to Atlantis more often."

"I'll try," I reply, I probably won't though. I like it at Atlantis however its awkward around Triton and Amphitrite. My father smiles at me as he disappears in a sea mist. My mom walked up to me next, still as a 30 year old.

"I love you," she said kissing my forehead softly.

"I love you too Mom,"

"Stay safe and I expect you to keep me updated," she said to me and I knew that if I didn't keep in contact I was in for hell. She turned to Artemis who had been hanging back.

"I expect my son to be treated fairly," she said sternly.

"Of course, Aunt. While I detest men, Perseus is one of the ones I can slightly respect." Artemis relies, I'm surprised that she admitted that she respects me even if it's only slightly.

"Good," my mom nods, she turns back to me. "I'll check in with you soon and keep practicing your new powers." She then disappears in a spiral of flames and I'm left with the man-hating goddess of the moon.

"Lady Artemis," I bow not wanting to start off on a bad foot.

"While I'm not happy about you traveling with us there is nothing I can do about it. I respect you more than just about any other male and I hope that you will not prove my respect misplaced." Said the 13 year old goddess in front of me.

"Thank you Lady Artemis," I said genuinely, I was quite honored to have the notorious man-hating goddess admit to respecting me. "I swear on the Styx that I will not flirt with any of the hunters," I surprise us both with the oath.

"Why did you do that?"

"I'm not entirely sure," I reply honestly.

"Well I appreciate it non the less," she said giving me a small smile. "Now come, we need to get to camp."

She extends her hand and I take it carefully. We appear in a forest, the sun was just setting and barely making it through the trees. I could see there was a clearing with a few tents about 10 feet away.

"Wait here," Artemis said. "I'll go and explain to the hunt."

She walked off into the clearing, I heard her call for the hunters. Soon a group of six girls and Artemis were sitting around the camp fire. I could barely hear what they were saying but I could make out where they were in the story. As Artemis explained that is would be staying with them, all of them apart from Thalia made faces of disgust.

"Where is this male then?" one of them asked.

"He probably got lost," another one snickered.

"You can come out now!" Artemis called.

I walked out of the forest and into the clearing. I had 5 glares being sent at me but Thalia was smiling at me.

"Err hi," I said trying to break the ice a little.

"Now I know you won't like having Perseus stay with us however he is one of the better males out there so I expect you to treat him based on his personal actions not the actions of the rest of his gender," Artemis says to her hunters.

"But-" one of them starts.

"No. Perseus has done a lot for Olympus and Thalia speaks highly of him so he is worthy of a little respect." Artemis says to her hunters. "Now introduce yourselves, Thalia bring him to my tent when you're done." She says before turning around and walking away leaving me with my cousin and 5 highly trained man-hating teenage girls.

"Well, kelp head you know me," Thalia started off. She then gestured to the girl next to her.

"Eva Taylor," she said reluctantly "daughter of Aphrodite but if you think I'm like the other skanks I'll gut you." She was tall and thin and looked around 15, with straight black hair and blue eyes. You could tell she was a daughter of Aphrodite even though she tried to hide it.

"Lola Wood," a girl with chocolate skin, brown hair and eyes said. She had a sneaky look around her that make me think she was a child of Hermes. "14, daughter of Hermes."

"Tia Barnes," the next girl said. She had a condescending look and blonde hair and blue eyes. "My dad's Apollo, I became a hunter when I was 16."

"Phoebe Flores," said a short girl with green eyes and red hair. I remembered that she was the girl the Stoll twins pranked before the quest to save Artemis and Annabeth. "I'm the daughter of Ares." If I had to guess I would have said she was around 15.

"Maddy Lewis," a girl I could tell was a daughter of Athena, she had the same stormy grey eyes. "I'm a daughter of Athena." Yup I was right. She had blonde/brown hair and olive skin and she looked around 15.

"Well that's all the introductions done," Thalia said. "Come on kelp head."

I followed her to largest tent in the camp, it was silver and had a silhouette of a deer sitting down on the side. Thalia knocked on one of the poles.

"Come in," Artemis called from the inside.

We entered the tent which was bigger on the inside. I saw Artemis sitting on the edge of a large bed with animal furs on it. I realized that the silhouette was an actual deer sitting on the floor.

"I'll leave you two to talk," my cousin said before walking out of the tent. Great I'm left alone with the biggest man hater in history.

"Sit Perseus," Artemis said gesturing to a wooden chair. I walked over to the chair and sat waiting for her to speak.

"First of all," she began.

 **AN/: That's it for this chapter. I know there wasn't much action and he didn't really spend much time with the hunt but the throne room scene went on for longer than I thought.**

 **Please let me know what you think!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

 **Percy POV**

"First of all," she began, she paused and I could tell that the blood drained from my face. She smirked at my expression. "There are going to be some rules that I expect you to obey," as she spoke I let out a sigh of relief, I was expecting her to say something worse.

"What might they be then, Lady Artemis,"

"First of all I expect you to do your share of the chores," I nodded as this seemed reasonable. "This will include hunting for food, Thalia has mentioned your, ah how should I say this. Your unusual 'talent' in archery, so I will have Thalia teach you."

Fuck, I thought to myself, I was the most horrendous archer in history.

"But Lady Artemis," I tried to get out of archery lessons but she wasn't having it.

"No. I have accepted that you are going to be staying with but that means you will have to try fit in with us. This means learning to hunt and use a bow." Artemis tells me sternly. I knew that I wasn't going to win this argument.

"Okay but if I end up maiming someone don't blame me,"

"Ok I'll keep it in mind," she said. "I also expect you to treat my hunters respectfully and in turn I will get them to treat you the same."

I wasn't expecting her to say that but it was a pleasant surprise. "Thank you, Lady Artemis,"

She got up and walked over to some draws, she rummaged around in the bottom draw. She drew her hand back and in it was a small silver square. She threw it to me and walked back and sat down again. I just look at the small square confused as to what it was.

"It's a tent," said Artemis exasperatedly

"Yeah because that's obvious," I mutter.

"Ask Thalia how to use it,"

"Okay, is that all?"

"Yes I believe it is, if there is anything else I will inform you."

"Thank you, Lady Artemis," I gave her a bow before walking out her tent.

"Fuck!" I shout in surprise. As soon as I stepped out of the tent I was yanked into the sky and flipped upside-down. I regained my bearings and realized that I had a rope around my left ankle that was also connected to a tree branch. The sound of laughter makes me look around and I see the 6 hunters all laughing at me.

"Hi girls, as funny as this is would you mind letting me down?" I ask trying to be civil although I was slightly annoyed. The girls all pretended to think for a minute.

"Err, no," Thalia said to me while still snickering.

"What's going on?" Artemis' head pops out the door of her tent. As she looks around and sees me she bursts into laughter as well. They all laughed together for a bit leaving me hanging upside-down. I could feel all the blood rushing to make face turning it red, this just caused them to laugh harder.

"Right girls," Artemis says regaining her breath. "It's almost dinner, go prepare it." The hunters all turned and walked away still giggling a little. "Thalia! Stay here for a minute."

My cousin walks back to where I'm hanging.

"Yes, Milady?"

"Can you show Perseus where and how to pitch his tent."

"Of course,"

The teenage goddess pulls her bow out and shoots an arrow through the rope.

"Ugh, thanks but could you have done that a little more gently?" I groan as I hit the floor. Both Thalia and Artemis both just laugh at me.

"I'll see you both at dinner," Artemis said before disappearing back into her tent.

I stand and brush the dirt off my jeans. I pick up the tent and turn to Thalia.

"Come on seaweed brain," she says walking off towards the other side of the clearing. "Just throw it down here," she said pointing at a patch of grass.

I throw the little silver square on the floor and nothing happened. I jump as Thalia fires an arrow into the square causing it to expand into a silver tent around 4 feet wide and 6 feet long.

"Wow that's convenient,"

"Yeah pretty cool huh," Thalia said pushing open the flap into my tent.

I follow her inside and look around. The tent was bigger on the inside with a wooden framed single bed in one corner, a desk and chair in another. There was also a cupboard and drawers. All the furniture was pine with silver bedding. As I looked around the bedding changed to a deep-sea blue and the cushion on the chair turned into a red/orange flame color.

"Your clothes are automatically in the closet," Thalia said jumping down onto my bed. She put her boots up on the cover and large pieces of mud fell off them.

"Thanks for that," I said pointing at the mud.

"Sorry," the expression on her face told me that she wasn't. I just sighed and sat down on the chair.

"So how have you been holding up?" I ask her, I hadn't spoken to her since Annabeth's death. I knew they were really close and her death would have been hard on my cousin, not to mention having to deal with her sister-in-arms deaths as well.

She just sighs before replying.

 **Linebreak**

Me and Thalia had been talking for about half an hour about what had happened after the fall of Gaia. We both shed some tears over Annabeth and my parent's deaths.

"Thalia are you and the male in there?" A voice calls from outside the tent. "It's time for dinner."

"Yeah Tia we're coming," Thalia replied. We both got up and left the tent.

The other five hunters and Artemis were all sitting around a wooden table. Artemis was sitting at the head of the table and there was a free chair to her right which Thalia took. I looked at the rest of the table and saw that there was a free seat at the end of on each side of the table. One of the chairs was next to Lola the daughter of Hermes and I couldn't remember of the name of the other girl. I sat down next to Lola as the death glare the other girl was sending me promised a painful and humiliating death

We eat what I think was bear meat with potatoes and vegetables. The hunters all talked among themselves and just ignored me apart from sending the occasional disgusted glare.

"Phoebe, Maddy," Artemis said once everyone had finished. "You two are on clean up duty. Thalia I want you to try teach Perseus the basics of archery."

Great, just great. I have to do archery.

"But Milady I don't think I can teach him archery," Thalia protested.

"Just give it a try," Artemis insisted.

Thalia led me off to the makeshift archery range that had been set up. She picked up a bow and a quiver of arrows and walked closer to the targets. The hunters seemed to practice around 50 feet from the targets on average. Thalia stopped around 20 feet from the nearest target.

"You might have a chance of hitting it from here," Thalia said smirking.

"You overestimate my abilities," I said seriously, I knew she was joking but I wasn't.

"Right now show me how you would hold the bow," she said handing me the sleek silver bow.

I took the bow and grasped it in my left hand and held it at my side facing the target. I notched an arrow and fired. The arrow imbedded itself 6 feet away in a tree trunk.

"Well that was shit," I muttered.

"Damn right it was," Thalia laughed. "You've gotten worse since I last saw you try."

"Thanks for the words of encouragement."

We spent the next two hours trying to get me hitting anywhere near the target. It was a lost cause though, I only shot one arrow within 5 feet of the target. It was getting dark and all my muscles were aching. Thalia had gone from laughing at my inability to frustrated at my lack of improvement.

"Right, that's it." She said sitting down onto a tree stump. "You're hopeless. I'll speak to Lady Artemis and either she'll give up on you. Or more likely she'll train you hard enough to pass out until you can shoot."

"Great," I said sarcastically. "We're doing that tomorrow though, I'm knackered."

We walk back to the camp and see it empty apart from the 13 year old goddess. She was sitting on a log next to the fire, there was a deer resting its head in her lap. She was whittling what looked like a jackalope. She turned to us as we approached and the deer ran off into the forest.

"So how did it go?" she asked with a hint of amusement.

"Absolutely fucking fantastic," Thalia said sarcastically sitting down on a log.

"So I've heard," Artemis said. "Perseus," she said seriously. "Do you know how many complaints I've had about you from the nature spirts?"

"Err 3?" I guessed.

"11. 11 in 2 hours." She informed me. "I knew you were bad at archery but that's just ridiculous," I could tell she was slightly amused.

"It's not my fault, I've never been able to shoot," I tried to defend myself.

"That's still not acceptable. While you are with us you must learn how to shoot."

"But-"

"No. You WILL learn to shoot." She cut me off stopping any arguments.

"Milady," Thalia interjected. "I don't think that I teach him anymore, he's beyond my help."

Artemis just sighed "Very well," she turned to me. "Perseus from now on I will be teaching you archery. At least until you get to a level where Thalia can teach you."

Shit. I now had the short-tempered man-hating goddess as my archery teacher.

"Okay, thank you Lady Artemis," I say respectfully. Although I wasn't happy about it I defiantly wasn't going to tell her that.

"Now Perseus you are free for the night."

Although it was dark I wasn't tired so I walked out of the clearing and into the forest. I heard water flowing and tried to find the source. Soon I found myself at a river and decided to practice my new powers from my mom.

For the next hour I focused on trying to summon flames in my hand. After every attempt I had to lounge in the river to regain my energy. By the end of my little training session I could consistently summon a ball about 6 inches round. I once managed to summon a ball around the size of a basketball, but I nearly passed out after.

I walked back to my tent and as I entered I was greeted by a wolf. It wasn't just a wolf it was fucking massive, it was around 45 inches at the shoulder and over 6 feet long. So after registering that there was a 90lb predator in my tent I did the only logical thing; turned around and ran. As I ran I let out a scream which sounded more like a 10 year old girl than an 18 year old war hardened demi-god.

When I left the tent I saw 3 hunters laughing as the wolf pounced and landed on my back, knocking me to the floor. I'm not sure what hurt more, the claws in my back or having 90lbs of muscle land on top of me.

I heard a whistle and the wolf slowly got off me, I looked around and saw Artemis. What surprised me was that she didn't look amused, if anything she looked annoyed.

"Girls, I don't mind you pranking him but I would like to avoid having to explain to my aunt and uncle why their son was killed by one of my wolves." 2 of the girls looked a little sheepish as they were told off, the other was still just looking amused at my pain.

"Eva," Artemis said to the one still looking at me. "I know he's a male but could you please get your entertainment from monsters rather than half the councils favored demi-god."

"Yes sorry milady," Eva said with an English accent, she still looked anything but concerned.

"Good. Now go to bed,"

The 3 hunters walked off to their tents, leaving my with a goddess and a sore back.

"You should beware of Eva," Artemis told me. "She can be a bit sadistic, especially towards males."

"I'll keep that in mind. Goodnight Lady Artemis," I said bowing before retreating back into my now wolf-free tent. I pulled my shirt and trousers off and flopped onto the bed in my boxers. I had to lie on my front which was a little uncomfortable but better than my back.

 **Artemis POV**

Once again, I was sat on my chariot thinking about Perseus. This was something I was doing a strange amount lately. His first day with the hunt seemed to have gone okay. Well being hung from a tree and attacked by a wolf aren't usually anyone's definition of okay but the hunters could be very cruel.

He hadn't complained about either 'prank' which I found a little surprising. Most surprising was his inability to shoot. I'm not sure why but I felt determined to teach him. It's because I'm the goddess of archery, I told myself.

I could guarantee that tomorrow would include more pranks for the son of Poseidon but I'm not sure how extreme they would be.

 **AN/: That's all for this chapter, I just wanted to get the most of the intro to the hunt done in this chapter.**

 **Please let me know what you think.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

 **Percy POV**

I woke up to a banging on the pole of my tent.

"Boy get up!" I heard someone shout, I think it was Phoebe.

I got up and threw on some clothes, I attempted to tame my hair but quickly gave up. I left my tent and saw the hunters milling around getting ready for breakfast. Most of them just glared at me as I made my way over to Thalia.

"Morning," I yawn out. "What time is it?"

"6," she said to me.

"Fucking Hades," I curse, "Why did you make me get up so early?" I complain.

"Because while you are staying with us you must go by our rules and routine. This includes getting up at 6," I heard a voice say behind me. I turned around and saw Artemis standing there.

"Good Morning Lady Artemis,"

"Come breakfasts ready. You're going to need your energy for today," she smirked.

I groaned remembering that I was having archery lessons with her. Me and Thalia both walked over to the table. Thalia takes her seat next to Artemis and I take the same seat as dinner yesterday.

"How's your back, boy?" the girl sitting opposite asked mockingly. I recognized her as Eva, the girl Artemis warned me about after my encounter with the wolf.

I tried to think of an answer that wouldn't get me mocked. "Alright thanks," I settled on lying since it's probably the answer she wanted least.

The annoyed huff I got in return told me that I was right. Eva turned to the rest of her sisters in arms and started chatting. I proceeded to eat my breakfast silently.

"Perseus," Artemis called me. The entire hunt stopped talking, they must have been wondering what their mistress wanted with me. "Report to my tent in half an hour for the start of your training."

 **Linebreak**

I stood outside Artemis' tent, I had knocked and received no answer so I just stood there waiting.

"Good you're on time," I heard Artemis say walking up behind me. "I expected you to be late."

I decided to ignore that last comment as any response would likely end up in her ranting.

"Come on," she said leading me into the forest.

"Umm Lady Artemis?"

She turned around to face me. "Yes?"

"Aren't we going in the wrong direction from the archery range?" I asked, maybe she wanted to take me somewhere that I wouldn't piss off the nature spirits.

"Oh we're not starting with archery," was the reply I got.

"Wait I thought you were teaching me archery?"

"Oh I am. However I also know your reputation for being anything but stealthy, and there's no point being able to shoot if you can't stalk. So I'm going to teach you everything that you need."

Oh great, I get to spend even more time with the touchy man-hating goddess.

"Are you sure?" I ask trying to persuade her that it's not necessary.

"Yes, you are with the hunt and therefore must act like us. Even if you are a male." She said leaving no room to argue. "Right come on and be quiet."

She led me further into the forest and we arrived at a clearing.

"Right," she said stopping, she brushed a strand of auburn hair out her face. "Now we're going to start with moving subtly."

 **Linebreak**

I had spent 5 hours trying to be stealthy but I still couldn't get within 30 feet of any animal. Artemis had just about lost it with me. She had been trying her hardest to teach me but I was a shit student.

"Well," Artemis sighed sitting on a fallen tree. "Your fucking hopeless."

I didn't really know how to reply to that so I just kept silent.

"That will have to be good enough for now," the girl-goddess said. "We'll move onto archery next."

Oh great, that will be fun.

"But first," she said a grin appearing on her face, as soon as I saw the grin I panicked. "We'll have lunch."

I sighed, that was much better than what I thought.

"Ok so am I free until lunch?" I asked hopefully.

Artemis' grin grew. "Yes but first you'll have to make it back to camp."

Oh shit, there's the catch. I had no idea where the camp was or where I was.

"We'll start archery at 2," she said before flashing away leaving me alone and lost.

 **Time skip 3**

I stumbled into the clearing that the hunt had set up camp in. I felt everyone look at me and then they all started laughing at the state I was in. I had little cuts littering my body as well as sticks in my hair.

I collapsed to the floor in exhaustion, wiping the sweat off my head.

"Fuck!" I shouedt as a sharp pain hits my side. I looked down and see a blunt arrow.

"Your late boy," I looked up and saw the silver-eyed goddess of the hunt glaring at me. "Now get up."

I groaned as I sat up. I saw Artemis walking away to the archery range.

"Here," Thalia called and threw me a sandwich. "You should hurry or you'll be in for a lot more pain."

"Thanks for the warning," I said forcing myself to jog after Artemis.

I got to the archery range and saw the goddess firing arrows at the target, I just watched for a minute impressed at the insane speed and accuracy that she was firing at.

"Finally," Artemis said, without even looking at me, she stopped firing arrows. "Get that bow," she said gesturing to a bow and quiver leaning up against a tree.

After I grabbed the bow and arrows I walked up to Artemis who had walked around 20 feet from a target.

"Right, now show me your stance."

I tried to remember what Thalia had taught me yesterday. I was soon hit over the had by Artemis' bow.

"What!" I asked as I clutched my head in pain.

"That was horrendous. Now get back into position."

I did as she said and she soon started poking and moving bits of me.

"You need to push your chest out more," she told me.

I tried to do as she instructed but felt me hips move and new I had messed it up.

"You're hopeless," she said. She tried to push my chest out and keep the rest of me still but my 18 year old stature dwarfed her 12 year old form. "Hang on," she said stepping back, "don't look."

I shut my eyes and could tell that there was a bright light.

"You can open them now," I was informed. I opened my eyes and saw that Artemis no longer appeared as a 12 year old. Now standing in front of me was a beautiful woman, she looked around 18 or 19. She stood around 5' 10" and had a lithe figure that was built for speed and stealth. Artemis had her long auburn hair pulled back in a ponytail, her face was perfect with defined cheekbones and soft lips. She looked absolutely gorgeous.

Stop it, I told myself. She's a maiden goddess you shouldn't be thinking of her like that.

She walked behind me a pulled my body into position. By the time she was finished she was pressed right against me with her chin just resting on my shoulder. I was very conscious of the awkward position we were in, Artemis however didn't seem to notice the intimate position.

"Now fire," she said, I could feel her breath on my ear. I let go of the bow string and watched as the arrow flew through the air. It hit about 8 inches to the left of the center of the target.

"Well done," Artemis said pulling away from me. "Now you just have to be able to do that yourself."

 **Time skip 6 hours**

"YES!" I shouted as I finally hit the first bullseye of my life. I had taken me ages and a lot of beatings from Artemis but I finally hit the best shot of my life.

"Finally," Artemis said exasperatedly, "That was complete luck."

"Still, you said we'd be done for the day after I hit a bullseye and I have," I said still joyful after my last shot.

"It only took you 6 hours," she muttered. "Now it's almost time for dinner."

We walked back to camp and Artemis went off to her tent. I went and found Thalia.

"How'd it go?" She asked me.

"I was hit more times than I could count," I said sitting down.

"You'll be in for a lot more of that while your being taught by her."

"I look forward to it," I said sarcastically. I told her about my day training however I left out the part where Artemis aged and our intimate position.

 **Time skip 1 week**

The past week had been horrible. I had been spent most of my days being tortured by Artemis. Well she called it training but in reality it had been torture. I was worked constantly whether it was archery or some other hunting skill. During my 'lessons' I was hit every time I made a mistake and was barely allowed to rest. I had improved in archery quite a lot, I was still shit but I could hit the target about once in 10 shots.

The hunt hadn't exactly been welcoming. I was pranked just about daily, the pranks ranged from small little things like gluing me to my chair all the way to bigger pranks like traps or moving my mattress into the wolves pent while I slept. I knew Thalia was taking part in most of them but I'm pretty sure she was left out of the bigger ones. Thalia had been the only one who was friendly to me. The rest of the hunt had been vicious especially Eva, she was the leader of the anti-Percy pranks it seemed.

Artemis had been a strange mix of her usual hostile man-hating self and being quite friendly (at least for her). During the times she was being friendly I actually felt like there might be a slight friendship forming between us, however soon she always started raging at me and my thoughts of friendship disappeared. One thing I had noticed was that Artemis had been appearing around my age a lot more, when I asked her about it she said it was easier than aging herself every time she taught me archery. After this explanation I didn't think too much about it, there was no more accidental intimacy but I occasionally found myself admiring her and had to pull myself back to reality or risk being castrated.

I had been practicing with my new abilities that I gained after my adoption. I could consistently summon a ball of flame around the size of a basketball. I could shoot a small stream of flames out of my hand if I concentrated really hard but it felt me completely drained. I could summon some basic food but not much of it, I found it much harder to make food that to summon flames.

I was lying on my bed after dinner, I was playing with small flames, making them dance between my fingers. All of a sudden there was a whirlwind of flames at the end of my bed. As the flames cleared I saw my mom standing there.

"Hello Mom," I said as my adoptive mom sat on the edge of my bed. Hestia had visited me a couple times in the week that been with the hunt. Over this time she became as much like a mother as Sally had been, I will never forget my birth mom and still love her. However her loss doesn't feel as bad with my adoption, Hestia didn't feel like an adoptive mom to me.

"Hello,"

Today she was in her 30 year old form which was still a rare occurrence although more common than it used to me.

"It's quite late for a visit," I said. Normally she visited around midday and we would have lunch together.

"Well this isn't just a social visit," she said seriously. "I have a job I would like you to do."

"Ok," I said wondering what she was talking about. "What is it?"

"I need to speak to Artemis about it as well," she said standing up.

We walked to Artemis' tent and talked. I told her about my day and she told me about any information on the war. We reached Artemis' tent and my mom knocked on one of the poles.

"Come in," Artemis called.

We entered the tent and saw Artemis sitting at her desk.

"Aunt Hestia, Perseus, what can I do for you?"

"Niece," my mom started. "I have a job I would like Percy to do."

"Okay, I was planning on moving camp tomorrow, how long will it take him?" Artemis asked.

"It will probably take all day," my mom answered.

"Okay I'll delay it by a day. What is this job?"

"There's a demi-god being abused by her uncle and I would like Percy to fetch her," my mom said solemnly. I felt rage building inside me at the thought of a little girl being abused. "Also if it was okay with you I think she would be a good addition to the hunt."

Artemis looked furious at the news of a maiden being abused. "Where is the pig?" she growled.

My mom exhaled and looks at me sadly, "It's the apartment next to your mom's."

 **AN/: That's all for this chapter. Sorry for the wait for this chapter I've been really busy with college and other stuff.**

 **Please let me know what you think.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

 **Percy POV**

As my mom told me that I would have to go back to where I grew up tears filled my eyes.

"Percy," my mom said softly. "You don't have to go if you think it'll be too much. I can find someone else."

I wiped my eyes and pushed the memories of my mom out my mind. I looked at my mom and nodded. "I'll do it."

My mom wraps me into a hug.

"Thank you,"

"It's ok," I said hugging her back.

"If I may interrupt," Artemis said from her seat. "Why have you chosen Perseus for this?"

I looked at my mom wondering the same thing, I assumed that it was just because I was her favorite demi-god.

"Also," Artemis continued, "How did you find out about her?"

"Well," my mom started. "She has been living there for about a year now. Sally used to sometimes babysit for her and I'm sure that she knew that she was looking after a demi-god. Sally told her stories of the gods yet never told her they were real. As for how I know about her, in a moment of desperation she remembered the stories she was told and prayed to me as she remembered I'm kind-hearted and she hoped I could help."

I stood there slightly shocked, I couldn't believe that my mom knew this little girl. I wasn't looking forward to going back to my old apartment block but this little girl needed help.

"Okay, so how am I going to get to New York?" I asked my mom.

"I'll flash you," she said. "You'll have to explain about the gods to her before you can bring her here. When you are ready just tell me mentally and I'll come and flash you."

"Ok, um how do I talk to you mentally?" I asked as I had only ever done it once and I could see her when I did.

"Just focus on me and think what you want to say to me."

I nodded and turned to Artemis.

"I'll see you later Lady Artemis," I bowed before my mom touched my shoulder and I soon found myself back in New York.

It had been around a year since I had been here but nothing had changed. There was still graffiti on the walls, broken glass littered alleyways. I walked up to the door of my old apartment block and entered.

I climbed the cells while memories of my time living here flooded my mind. Some were good, such as my mom baking me blue cookies or dragging my bags down the stairs before going to Montauk. Some were bad like the times where Gabe used to beat me and how scared I used to be.

I found myself at my old door and rested my back against it. I slowly slid down the door while tears streamed down my eyes silently. I don't know how long I spent weeping quietly but I couldn't stop myself. I kept reliving my mom's death, over and over again I saw the light leave her eyes, I tried to find a way that I could have saved her but I couldn't think of anything. This just made me feel like more of a failure.

A high-pitched scream brought me back to reality and I remembered why I was here. I shot to my feet and ran across to the door opposite. I tried the handle but unsurprisingly it was locked. I took a step back and tried to think of a way in.

I came up a plan that was unlikely to work but it was the best I could come up with. I took riptide out my pocket and inserted the tip into the lock. I managed to flick the cap off and my pen elongated into my trusty bronze sword. The lock and half the door split as riptide pierced through the wood. I pushed the door open and rushed inside.

Inside the apartment was disgusting, there were beer cans all over the floor and rubbished piled high on the furniture. The stink of cigarettes hung thickly in the air. I could hear sobbing and tried to navigate through the labyrinth of filth.

I found a closed door with paint peeling off it, I could her the girls sobs from the other side of the door. I kicked it open and saw a little girl curled up in the corner, my blood boiled when I saw that she was only wearing a t-shirt and it looked like the rest of her clothes had been ripped off. She had messy shoulder length blonde hair and tears streaming down her face, she also had a black eye. She looked around 9 and was confused when she saw me.

"Who the fuck are you!"

I turned and saw who I assumed was the uncle. He was balding and had a large gut. I looked like he hadn't washed or shaved in a week. He had his shirt off and his pants round his ankles, in his hand was a beer bottle.

I couldn't believe what this vile excuse of a human was going to do. My first instinct was to pull out riptide but it would do nothing against the mortal.

"I'm the guy that's going to save the girl and make you regret what you've done." I said with anger.

"Yeah right," the fat pig scoffed. "The bitch isn't going anywhere and you're going to regret coming in here." He smashed the beer bottle on the wall and pointed the jagged edge towards me.

I thought about trying to summon fire to fight of the drunk but I didn't want to scare the little girl more than necessary. I decided that I should be able to fight him weaponless, he looked slow and my years of fighting monsters had left me quite confident in my abilities.

I crouched down into a fighting stance and waited for the man to make the first move. When he was near he lunged forwards sloppily. I easily sidestepped the attack and sent a kick into his back. The despicable man fell onto his stomach and when he was down I grabbed the shard of glass.

"Now," I said pressing my foot in between his shoulder blades. "I hate people like you, if the hunt were here you wouldn't be alive. I however don't like killing mortals, so I'm going to let the cops find you."

I kicked him in the head knocking him unconscious and grabbed his belt that he had dropped on the floor. I quickly tied his hands up and gagged him with a rag. I then turned to the little girl who was crying silently in the corner. She was looking at me with fear on her face.

"Shhh," I said quietly, crouching down a few feet from her. "I'm not going to hurt you."

She looked up to me with blue eyes, she sniffled a little and her breathing steadied a little.

"Who are you?" she asked timidly.

"I'm Percy Jackson," I said calmly. "I'm here to help you and get you away from that pig." I said as I gestured to the unconscious drunk.

"Jackson, like Sally?" she asked.

My breath hitched a little as she mentioned my mom.

"Yes Sally was my mom." I said sadly.

"So you're that Percy!" she said with a hint of excitement in her voice. She was still weary of me but I could tell that the knowledge that my mom was Sally made her trust me a little more. "What do you mean was?"

I took a deep breath. "My mom was killed." I said sadly.

The girl let out a small sob at the news, she must have been quite fond of my mom.

"What's your name?" I said trying not to think of my moms death.

"Chloe," she said.

"Okay Chloe." I said standing up. "We'll get you some more clothes and then I'll explain more."

Chloe stood up while pulling her shirt down to try and preserve some modesty. She walked over to where her clothes were strewn. I turned around as she dressed.

"So why are you here?" she asked once she was done.

"Like I said, I'm here to take you away from your uncle." I saw her face light up but then it fell slightly.

"But where would I go?" she asked, "I don't have any other family, my mommy died a few years ago and I've never met my dad."

"Well, this is a long story," I said. "Do you want anything to eat while I explain?"

"Yes please."

I concentrated for a minute and soon I had a bowl of tomato soup and bread on a tray in my lap. I handed it over to Chloe who was looking at my in awe.

"How did you do that?"

"Do you remember those stories that my mom used to tell you about the Greek gods?" I asked her, she nodded so I continued. "Well those gods are real."

She gasped a little at this news but seemed to believe what I was saying.

"Sometimes these gods fall in love with normal people and have children with them. However due to some ancient laws the gods can't visit their kids, they do love them a lot though."

"Wait, so does that mean my daddy's a god?

"Yes," I answered, "I don't know who but I'm sure we'll find out soon."

"So are you a child of a god?" she inquired and I nodded. "Is that how you made this?" she said holding up a slice of bread.

"Yes, my dad is Poseidon the god of the seas." I said.

"Sally always talked about him," Chloe said excitedly, "he sounds so cool!"

"Yeah he is," I said, "but I could make the food because I was adopted my Hestia, the goddess of the hearth, home and hope."

"So you're the son of two gods?"

"Yes I am, we call the children of the gods demi-gods."

She slurped up the last of her soup and wiped her mouth on her sleeve.

"So if I'm a demi-god where will I go?" she asked.

"Well, most demi-gods go to a camp called Camp Half-blood, they train and live there. However for some girls, especially those with bad experiences with men they join this group of girls called the hunters of Artemis. These girls follow the goddess Artemis and are granted partial immortality. I'm currently staying with the hunt and I think you would love it?" I explained to the little girl.

Chloe thought for a minute before answering. "Can we go to the hunt?"

I nodded, "Of course."

"How do we get there?"

"My mom will teleport us to them, don't worry though you'll be fine." I focused on my mom and thought a message to her, Hey mom can you take us to the hunt?

Of course, and the cops will find the uncle. Was the reply I got.

Soon both me and Chloe were surrounded my an orange light before reappearing in the hunts camp. Chloe hugged her stomach and looked like she was about to throw up.

"It can be a bit rough the first few times," I said to her reassuringly. "Come on we need to find Lady Artemins."

We walked through the camp to Artemis' tent. I knocked on one of the poles and waited to be let in.

"Come in!" Artemis called.

I pushed open the flap and led the way with Chloe following timidly behind me.

"Hello Lady Artemis," I said bowing to the 12 year old goddess who was sitting at her desk.

"Ah Perseus, you've returned. Who's this?" she asked.

"Err I'm Chloe."

"Well it's nice to meet you Chloe. Has Perseus explained everything?" Artemis asked.

"Perseus?" Chloe asked confused.

"Oh he would have introduced himself as Percy, I call him his full name." Artemis explained.

"Yes, I said I'm a demi-god but doesn't know who my daddy is."

As Chloe said this a symbol of a sun appeared over her head.

"Well that answers that question," Artemis said. "Chloe, your dad is Apollo, god of the sun and my twin brother."

Chloe looked shock at this news.

"Perseus, will you leave me and Chloe to talk alone for a minute?" Artemis asked but it was more of a command.

"Of course, Lady Artemis," I bowed again and left the tent.

I had been sitting on a log chatting to Thalia for about half an hour before Chloe came skipping out of Artemis' tent now dressed in silver, with the goddess following behind. I was glad to see that Chloe had a huge smile on her face and a slight silver glow around her,

 **AN/: That the chapter, this was just introduction Chloe who is going to be a kind of big part of the story.**

 **Please let me know what you think.**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN/: I'm back! Sorry for the wait for this episode I've been really busy with college and other things in life. Anyway on with the chapter I hope you enjoy!**

 **Chapter 10**

 **Percy POV**

Chloe skipped towards me and Thalia while Artemis followed behind her.

"So I take it you've joined the Hunt?" I asked the energetic 9 year old.

"Yeah, Lady Artemis is really nice!" She said while taking a seat on a log to my left.

"Thalia," We turned to Artemis who had reached us now. "Can you get the girls so they can be introduced to their newest sister."

"Of course Milady," Thalia said before jogging off to find the hunters.

"Lady Artemis?" Chloe asked the goddess.

"Yes Chloe,"

"If the Hunt's just for girls then how come Percy is staying here?" The daughter of Apollo asked.

"Well, the Hunt is just for girls so while Perseus is a male he is staying with us because I'm going to be turning him into a girl." As the child-goddess explained I felt the blood drain out my face. Chloe burst out laughing and it wasn't long before Artemis joined her. "No I'm just joking," Artemis said between breaths, "Due to a prophecy from your father Perseus has to stay with us for some time."

To say I was confused was an understatement, since when did the man-hating goddess Artemis make jokes?

"We're here Milady," Thalia's voice broke Artemis and Chloe out their laughter. The group of hunters were looking at Artemis strangely, they were probably wondering why she was laughing.

"Milady, why are you laughing so much?" Phoebe asked her patron goddess.

"Nothing girls, we were just laughing at Perseus," Artemis explained. "Well anyway, I called you all here to introduce you to your newest sister. This is Chloe, she is 9 and the daughter of my brother. I'm sure you'll make her feel at home here in the Hunt."

The hunters all swarmed Chloe, asking her questions. I could tell Chloe was a little nervous with all the attention from strangers, I gave her a reassuring smile to which she grinned back. I just stood out the way watching Chloe be introduced to her new sisters.

"Perseus, can we talk for a moment?" Artemis asks me.

"Of course,"

"Come, follow me," she said before leading me off into the forest.

I followed the auburn haired goddess through the trees for maybe just over 5 minutes before we came across a lake. Artemis kicked her boots off before rolling up the leg of her pants, she sat in the sand and dipped her feet into the water.

I stood there awkwardly, I had never seen Artemis act like this and I wasn't sure how to behave.

"Come sit, I wish to talk and the waters very relaxing," the goddess said.

I pulled my shoes off before also sitting down careful to leave a few feet between me and the goddess. I relaxed as I felt the water lap against my feet, although it wasn't the sea the water still invigorated me.

We sat there in silence just enjoying the feel of the cool water and the warm sand. I didn't say anything as although Artemis had been treating me better than most males I still didn't want to get on her bad side. I had no idea why she wanted to talk to me.

After around 5 minutes of silence she spoke.

"Thank you Perseus," she said softly.

"For what?" I asked confused as to what she would be thanking me for.

"For bringing Chloe here," she answered. "I love all my hunters but I always feel something slightly different for my nieces. Maybe its because they are the closest I have to blood daughters of my own or maybe its because I know how difficult it is being related to my younger brother."

"Its nothing, Chloe is a sweet girl and was in a situation that no one ever should be in. I'm just glad that I helped her get away from her dickhead of an uncle." I replied. I hadn't been expecting the conversation to be this personal.

"Anyway thank you, you are different to other males,"

"Thank you, coming from you that means a lot," I reply, genuinely honored.

We fall back into silence for a minute.

"How-" Artemis begins. I look at her and see her uncharacteristically fiddling with a braid of her hair. "How are you?" She asks surprising me. Why would she care how I am?

"Err, I'm okay thanks," I answer slightly awkwardly.

"No really. You've been through a lot and going back to where you used to live can't have been easy." As she spoke she seemed to gain back some of her usual confidence.

"Well," I took a deep breath. I had thought that I had been getting over everything a little, however now I realized that I hadn't got over it I had just pushed my feelings down. "I don't know to be honest. I thought I was doing better but I realize that I'm not. I still blame myself for letting them down and getting them killed. I feel so alone, I always had Annabeth by my side and now I don't I feel lost. I can't even IM my mom for advice."

I realize that tears had formed in my eye and a few rouge one had escaped down my face, I wiped them away with the back of my arm.

 **Artemis POV**

I looked at the demi-god sitting to my side, it was clear that he was broken. I could tell that he had been pushing his feeling down and now they had boiled up to the surface again.

As the demi-god fought off his tears I surprised myself by scooting a little closer to him and putting my hand on his shoulder reassuringly. To most people this would be normal but this was about as much physical contact I have with anyone, let alone a male.

I felt Perseus heave as he tried to hold back a sob. Eventually he couldn't hold it all back and started silently sobbing. For a reason unknown to either of us I started to rub his back in a reassuring way.

"It's hard Perseus, it really is. I know what its like to lose someone that has always been by your side." I said once he had regained control of himself a little more. "You will be able to move on in time though, I'm not saying to forget them or that someone will replace them." I teared up myself at the memory of my late best friend and lieutenant, Thalia was a great lieutenant but Zoe will always been my greatest huntress.

"As for feeling alone, Hestia will always be there for you, she cares for you more than I've seen her ever care for anyone else. You really are a son to her and she will help you in any way she can. Thalia also is incredibly happy to have you around although she doesn't always show it, she was also hit hard by Annabeth's death and having you here is helping her."

"Thank you Lady Artemis," he says to me. "I'm sorry for loosing control of myself there."

"It's nothing, emotions are not a sign of weakness and anyone that has gone through what you have would be in at least the same state you are in, if not worse." I said. "If you're ready we should get back to the Hunt. I say before standing up and walking back to my boots. "Ah Hades," I curse, "I don't have a towel."

"Here," Perseus said from behind me, I turned and he waved his hand at my feet. The water flew off them leaving them perfectly dry.

"Thank you."

"No problem," he said while pulling on his own boots.

Once he was finished I led him back through the forest to camp. We walked in silence for the most part, I occasionally laughed when he tripped over a root or rock he didn't see. As we approached the clearing that the camp was sent up in I felt a horrible chill up my spine like something was wrong. I stopped walking and gestured for Perseus to do the same. I summoned my bow and slowly stalked towards the clearing.

What I saw in the clearing made my heart momentarily stop, I saw the Titan of war, Pallas holding his sword to the throat of a very beaten up Thalia. Around Pallas was a collection of monsters, there was a fine layer of golden dust on the floor showing that my hunters had put up a fight. However the only one still standing was Thalia, the rest were either captured or unconscious. It worried me to see that Chloe was nowhere to be seen.

I suddenly felt an intense heat from behind, I whipped around already preparing an arrow. However I didn't fire because I saw Perseus had followed me and upon looking at the situation the hunt was in his right arm had burst into flame. I was unsure if it was intentional or not. The look in his eyes made me want to shiver a little, his eyes were not the funny sarcastic ones they had been in the past, nor were they the broken and depressed ones that he had worn since the fall of Gaia. His eyes were the eyes of someone who had been pushed past their limit and now held no reservations, I could tell that anyone who got in his way would feel his wrath. I new he was close to Thalia and I suppose as one of the only people he had left he was very protective of her.

Before I could say anything he had uncapped riptide and walked into the clearing. I was about to call out to him to get back here so we could make a plan but before I could he did something very characteristic of Perseus.

"Hey, get the fuck away from my cousin!" He shouted before sprinting at the titan. All I could do was try and form a plan to help him as he charged the powerful immortal.

 **AN/: Well that's the chapter done. Again I'm sorry for the wait and I apologize for the short length. I'll try get the next one out sooner.**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN/: Chapter 11! I just want to say a quick thanks as this story hit 100 followers and over 8k views which is just insane to me so thank you all.**

 **Chapter 11**

 **Percy POV**

When I saw the Titan holding his sword to my cousins throat I seemed to lose the ability to think. My body just went on autopilot, Thalia was one of the last people I had left and I wasn't going to lose her.

Before I realized it I was charging into the clearing, my arm ablaze and holding riptide. I had no idea who this Titan was only that he wasn't anyone I had fought before.

"Hey, get the fuck away from my cousin!" I shouted at my cousin's captor. I level riptide into a ready position as all the monsters in the clearing swiftly turned to me.

"Well well well, who do we have here?" The Titan said while lazily turning round to face me. The Titan had a badly scarred face including one that went from his hairline to his chin. "If it isn't the little Percy Jackson, the savior of Olympus."

It had been a while since I had fought a Titan and I could feel the power rolling of the ancient being standing before me, it was surprising how different the powers of a giant and titan feel.

"While I'd love to slaughter you the boss wants you brought to him. So I'll make you a deal," The Titan said to me, I was sure that his 'boss' was Tartarus. "You surrender to me and I'll let your little cousin go. What do you say?"

I was trying to see if I could fight may way through this, from the sound of it they didn't know Artemis was near by. I could see Thalia shaking her head at the offer however I couldn't think of another way to get through this with her alive. I refuse to let Thalia die and I don't think I could fight an unknown Titan and small army of monsters even with an Olympian goddess on my side.

 _Perseus don't you dare accept his offer._ I jumped as I heard Artemis' voice inside my head. _Thalia and your parents would never forgive you. Because you rushed in there so foolishly we'll have to fight. I will have to wait to reveal myself or he'll just use the hunt as hostages._

"Well?" The unknown immortal asked me again and I realized I had zoned out.

"Like I said before. Fuck Off!" I said dropping into a fighting stance. The monsters all readied their weapons at me.

"Very well it looks like I get to take you by force," the Titan said happily. "All of you stand down, he's mine." He shouted to his troops.

My thoughts were racing, most of them were thinking what Annabeth would say if you ran into a fight with an unknown immortal, sadly I knew exactly what she'd say from past experiences. I realized that I needed more information on my foe.

"Before we fight," I say to the immortal before me who was standing at tall 10 feet, not the biggest I've fought but still awkward. "Who the fuck are you?"

The Titan laughed at my blunt question.

"I suppose you won't recognize me as I didn't fight directly in the past two wars. I am Pallas, Titan of warcraft."

As he spoke a typical spartan helmet with a blood red plume appeared on his head. He also armed himself with a shield, it was made out of bronze and on the face it depicted a number of gruesome deaths.

Great, I thought to myself, so this guy is like Ares but on steroids, well Ares probably is on steroids but that's not the point.

Without warning Pallas charged at me. He swung with an overhead strike witch I met with riptide. We went back and forth for a minute, Pallas was on the offensive for the most part while I struggled to defend myself. One thing was for sure, Pallas was one of the most talented swordsmen I had ever fought.

After a minute I managed to push Pallas back enough to catch my breath for a second.

"Well, to be honest I'm slightly disappointed in the skills of the great Percy Jackson. I would have thought that the demigod who had managed to defeat both my uncle and my grandmother would be a bit more impressive." Pallas goaded me.

"Yeah, that's my main aim, to impress some dusty old Titan." I retort back. I see the campfire behind Pallas I an idea hatches in my head.

I reengaged the fight between me and the immortal, this time I was on the offensive. I tried to subtly turn us while we fought, after a series of blows I was now standing with my back to the campfire. I pulled back from the titan, neither of us had managed to land a substantial blow on the other, I knew however that I would tire before him and then he would have the advantage.

"Again you are making me wonder how you managed to defeat so many of my relatives if this is the most you can offer." Pallas taunted.

"Well I've got a little surprise for both of us," I say hoping to the gods, mainly my mom that my plan would work.

"Well surprise me then little demi-god."

I step back into the fire and hoped that it would have a similar effect as when I'm in the sea. I felt a warmth and a strange sense of familiarity wash over me. I felt my plan work, I had a renewed strength flow through me and my senses felt like they were on another level.

When I'm in the sea I feel a connection to the water and all its inhabitants, I feel the raw power that it holds. Standing in the flames of the campfire had a similar effect. I could feel the power of the fire, its ability to bring both destruction and aid. I felt the hope of the hunt, I realized that this was because this was the Hunt's hearth, wherever this fire burnt the Hunt felt at home.

The lack of hope I felt from the Hunt was worrying, it could tell it was subtly increasing though, probably due to Artemis and Thalia watching as they were the only two members conscious.

"So what is this surprise of yours then? It is that your fathers powers protect you from fire because that will not help you against me." Pallas said, obviously confused as to why I jumped into the campfire.

Again I let my instincts take over and I walked out of the flames feeling renewed. As I walked out the flames followed me, and I realized that I had managed to set my whole body ablaze. I knew that I wouldn't be able to stay like this for long so I had to end the fight as soon as I could.

"Nah this is my surprise," I said before launching myself furiously at my enemy. The flames from my arm slowly started to creep up riptide forcing Pallas to be extra careful.

"Well, it's certainly a strange trick for a son of Poseidon," Pallas said blocking an overhead strike from my flaming sword.

I pull back from him before launching another flurry of attacks, this time I managed to catch the inside of his shield arm both cutting and burning the flesh forcing him to drop his shield.

"Ahh you little…" he started before I cut him off my sending a jab to his chest. He managed to block the attack and took a couple steps backwards. I was about to push forwards again but Pallas just started to clap.

"Well that's more like it." He said, sounding slightly impressed. "As fun as this little fight is, the boss really wants you in his grasp as soon as possible. So I'm going to end this." He looked around at his troops. "Go ahead, just make sure he's still alive."

The group of monsters that had been standing around watching our fight drew their weapons and started to advance on me. I knew I wouldn't be able to fight the monsters and Pallas but there was no way I'd go without a fight. Just as the first cyclopes reached me a silver arrow pierced through its skull turning the monster to dust.

Everyone in the clearing stopped confused as to what happened, as all the Hunters were unconscious or restrained. It was then I saw a flash of silver in the trees and remembered Artemis, as I looked deeper into the forest I could have sworn I saw a second silver clad figure.

"Oh yeah, there's another surprise I have for you," I said to Pallas who was still confused as to what had happened. "Her names Artemis, you might have heard of her." I finish off with a grin.

I charged forwards towards Pallas attempting to catch him off guard but I was intercepted by a couple dracaena. Soon I found myself fighting through the army in a tornado of flames, quite literally, I had summoned a storm and the flames expelling off me were getting caught in the wind. Every time a sword, spear or claw was going to catch me off guard an arrow from the woods soon took care of my attacker.

Soon I found myself surrounded by a layer of golden dust with only a couple hell hounds growling at me. I looked around for Pallas but he was nowhere in sight. He must have disappeared while I fought his troops.

I was just advancing on the pair of hounds but two arrows found themselves imbedded in them before I got there.

I turned around and was suddenly knocked down by an impact and a mass of blonde hair covered my vision. I hit the floor with a rather unflattering grunt and looked up to see Chloe with tears in her eyes as well as a rather emotional Thalia.

"Thank you," Chloe kept saying into my shoulder as she hugged me tightly. Thalia managed to pry the daughter of Apollo of me and offered me a hand to help me stand.

Once I was back on my feet I was met with a hard slap to the face.

"Ow! What the Hades was that for!"

"For rushing in so stupidly." Thalia said as if it were obvious. She then pulled me into a hug. "And this is for saving us."

After Thalia let me go I was suddenly overcome by a wave of nausea. I grabbed onto her shoulder and tried not to throw up.

"Perce, what's wrong?" she asked me.

"Nothing I'm fine," I said before promptly collapsing to the floor and blacking out.

 **AN/: Chapter 11 is done! I personally don't think the fight seen was the greatest but please let me know what you think and any advice/constructive criticism you have would be much appreciated.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

 **Percy POV**

When I came around I was very aware of a pain in my head, it felt like someone had just hit me repeatedly with a sledgehammer. I managed to open my eyes and found myself lying in my bed back in my tent.

I heard a soft snore to my left and saw Chloe asleep in a chair next to my bed.

"She's refused to leave you." I jumped as I heard Artemis speak. I looked around and was surprised to see the goddess sitting in another chair on the other side of the tent. I tried to sit up but collapsed back down because the world started spinning. I managed to prop myself up on my elbows before looking back at the goddess of the moon.

"Why?" I asked Artemis, confused as to why Chloe would want to stay by me.

"Because she was fond of Sally and you're her son she heard so much about. Not to mention that you saved her from her pig of an uncle and then from Pallas and his forces. To her you're basically her guardian angel." Artemis explained to me.

"Oh right," was my intelligent response. Soon my thoughts went back to the fight against Pallas. "What happened to the hunt, are they okay?" I asked the 12-year-old goddess.

"Yes, they are fine. A few minor injuries but nothing too major."

"Ok good," I breathed a sigh of relief, although the hunters hadn't exactly been welcoming to me I still didn't want any of them to be hurt. "Lady Artemis," the goddess in question gestured for me to go on. "May I ask why you've been sitting in my tent?"

I was surprised to see a hint of a golden blush appear on Artemis' cheeks. I couldn't help but notice how cute she looked but I quickly pushed that thought away.

"Well, I um," Artemis started, still blushing slightly and playing with the bottom of her shirt. "I wanted to thank you, because well, Idon'tthinkIcouldhavefoughtPallasorsavedtheHuntwithoutyou." She gushed out.

I didn't catch all of what she said but I got the most of it. I was incredibly surprised for Artemis to admit that to me, Artemis was possible the most prideful of all the Olympians and for her to admit that to a male must have been a first.

"Err It was fine," I said a little awkwardly, I wasn't really sure how to react.

We just sat there in an awkward silence for a minute.

"I'll get Thalia, she made me promise to tell her when you finally woke," The goddess said while standing.

"Wait, how long was I out for?"

"About 36 hours," Artemis replied after thinking for a minute. "You used up a lot of energy in the fight."

She left the tent and I just lay on my bed staring up at the ceiling. For a strange reason the picture of Artemis blushing kept popping into my head before I pushed it out. My thoughts soon turned to the fight with Pallas, I realized that I was going to need to train hard if I had any chance in this coming war. The fight against Pallas showed how out of practice I had become at fighting a powerful enemy one-on-one. During the quest against Gaia I was always with the rest of the seven, now I had to be used to fighting alone like I did in the first war.

I was broken out my thoughts by Thalia bursting through the flap of my tent.

"Finally, you're awake!" she said loudly before slapping me.

"Ouch, the Hades was that for!"

"That was for lying to me," she said, she must have seen my confused expression while I tried to remember what she was talking about because she continued. "You said, and I quote, 'Nothing I'm fine,'"

"Oh yeah that," I said sheepishly. "I just didn't want you to worry about me."

"Oh yeah because I didn't worry about you at all after you said that, you know when you passed out." She said sarcastically.

"PERCY!" A high-pitched voice broke between mine and Thalia's conversation. I groaned as a wait landed on my chest and a familiar mop of blonde hair covered my vision.

"Hello Chloe," I said, "As nice as it is to see you could you possibly get off me as I can't breathe."

"Sorry," she said as she stepped backwards and rubbed the sleep out her eyes.

"Are you feeling better Perce?" Thalia asked me.

"Yeah, got a headache but I'll live." I replied.

"Good because you've missed a lot of hunting lessons, so you'd better get up now." Artemis said coming through the flap of the tent.

I groaned as I remember her archery lessons and how intense and painful they are. "Actually, I think I might need to rest a bit more." I said while snuggling into my bed covers.

Artemis just stood there and gave me a look that said 'really?' while Thalia chuckled at my attempt to get out of archery lessons. I let out a sigh as I gave in and prepared to push myself out of my bed.

"Actually, Lady Artemis, didn't Lady Hestia say that she wanted to be told as soon as she woke?" Thalia said to her patron goddess.

Artemis cursed under her breath in Ancient Greek, "Yes you're right. I'll send her an Iris message." She left the tent and Thalia and Chloe both followed her leaving me alone. I cheered internally at the fact that I didn't have to do archery, I knew I would have to do it at some point but if I would try to postpone it for as long as I could.

I rolled out of bed and pulled on a pair of black combat boots. As I left the tent a swirl of flames appeared in the middle of the camp. My mom stepped out of it in her 30-year-old form. She swiftly walked up to me and pulled me into a hug.

"Percy I so glad you're okay," she said.

"I'm fine mom, I've been through a lot worse." I replied trying to reassure my mom.

"Pallas, Percy," she said pulling me back to arms reach and looking my in the eyes. "Pallas is the titan of warcraft and we lost track of him centuries ago, he has always been a dangerous enemy and I just want you to be safe."

"Thanks mom but really I'm fine."

My mom turned to Artemis, "I hope you don't mind but Percy will be spending the rest of the day with me."

"That's fine with me," Artemis confirmed with my mom. "Percy," she said turning to me, "don't think that this has got you out of archery lessons."

I groaned as I had been hoping to skip archery.

"Well come on then," my mom said and I noticed that she had her hand out waiting for me to take it so she could flash us.

I grabbed her hand and soon was ingulfed in a whirlwind of flames. Once the flames had subsided I found myself in a large kitchen. The entire kitchen was made from wood and had a fire burning just behind me. The smell of fresh bread had filled the room and added to the overall homely feeling of the room. I took a seat at an oak table that was at one end of the room.

"Where are we?" I asked my mom who had started rummaging in some draws over by the oven.

"The kitchen in my palace," she replied while still searching in the draw. "It's lunchtime so we'll catch up over some food."

My stomach growled loudly before I could say anything, my mom just laughed a little. She came out from the draw she had been searching in with a large bread knife and set in on a board on the counter. She then got a fresh loaf of bread from out the oven and carried it over on the board.

Once she reached the table she set down the bread and the snapped her fingers and the table was suddenly full of food.

"Tuck in," she said while seating herself across from me.

"Why didn't you just summon the bread with everything else?" I asked while making myself a sandwich.

"I enjoy cooking and baking so I like to hand made as much food as I can," she explained.

"Ah ok," I said with only half my attention on what we were talking about. The other half was on the sandwich I had just created. It was a solid 3 and a half inches tall, it had 3 slices of bread as well as cheese, ham, lettuce and mayo plus a few more ingredients I threw in.

 **Time skip 2 hours**

Over the past 2 hours I told my mom about my time at the hunt since she had last visited. I also got lectured for rushing into the fight with Pallas. Over this time my mom told me some of what the council had decided and what they thought Tartarus would do next. To be honest the conversation never had much of my attention, most of it was on the food. I ate pretty much consistently for the 2 hours, in my defense I hadn't eaten for a day and a half.

"Right come on, stop stuffing your face," my mom chided me while standing and walking through a door. I just sat there for a minute enjoying the feeling of being full on amazing food. "Well are you coming?" my mom poked her head round the door.

I forced myself out of my chair and followed her outside.

"What are we doing out here?" I asked. We were standing in her garden again.

"Training," was my mom's answer. "Well you are."

She walked over to a deckchair and as she walked turned back into her more usual 8-year-olf self, a big floppy hat and sunglasses appearing on her as she sat.

"Come on, you said that you need to train and now's as good a time as any."

She was right but that didn't mean that I was enthusiastic about it.

 **Time skip 5 hours**

The past 5 hours had been full of me getting frustrated, cursing and accidently setting the wrong bits of me on fire. I collapsed to the floor in exhaustion, when my mom wanted me to train she really pushed me.

"Can we stop yet?" I panted out, rolling onto my back to look up at the sky.

"I guess, you've done well and made great progress."

"Thanks," I meant it, my mom wasn't the type of person to tell you that without being genuine.

During the training session, I had managed to be more specific with what I set on fire as well as being able to summon more fire and for longer. My fire control was still much worse than my water manipulation, but they were still cool tricks for a son of Poseidon to know.

"Now I should get you back to the hunt," my mom said, I wasn't going to complain as I was shattered and just wanted to sleep.

I took her hand and once again found myself cocooned in flames. Once they had subsided I found myself standing in the middle of the camp.

My mom then proceeded to crush me in a hug, for appearing as an 8-year-old she was incredibly strong.

"Bye Percy, I love you," she said before giving me a kiss on the forehead.

"I love you too mom."

"If I hear you pulled something as stupid as you did with Pallas then I won't let you out my sight," she said sternly before disappearing.

I headed toward Artemis' tent as I though she'd want to know that I had returned. On my way through the camp a few of the girls sneered at me but I just ignored them.

I arrived at Artemis' large silver tent and knocked on one of the poles.

"Come in!" the goddess called from within the tent. "Ahh Perseus your back," she said as she saw me enter. She was currently sitting on a chair and seemed to be whittling what looked like it would become a bow. "Did you have a good time?"

I was slightly confused as Artemis never seemed like the sort for small talk, but then again since I had 'joined' the hunt she had been acting differently to her reputation.

"Err yes I did thank you," I replied politely.

"So are you ready now then?" she questioned with a slight smirk.

"Err ready for what?" I asked confused.

"Ready for another archery lesson of course."

I looked at the 12-year-old goddess in disbelief.

"But, I've just spent the past 5 hours training," I complained.

"Unless you've spent that time learning archery then that is irrelevant," She said while setting down her knife and beginnings of a bow. "Now come on."

I knew there was no winning in this argument, so I just silently followed her out her tent and to the archery range. When we got there I saw Eva and Tia both shooting arrows with incredible speed and precision.

"Hello girls," Artemis greeted the two hunters.

"Hello milady," they greeted her.

"What's the male doing here, milady?" Tia asked in disgust.

"He's here for an archery lesson," Artemis explained.

The girls just scoffed.

"I don't know why you even try to teach him, he's useless," Eva said.

I thought about defending myself but I knew that would just make things worse, it was better to let Artemis handle them. Also she did have a point I was completely useless when it came to archery or being stealthy.

"Archery doesn't come naturally to children of Poseidon, also he doesn't have my blessing like you do. With enough time he might be able to grasp the basics." Artemis explained with a surprisingly stern undertone.

"Well if you insist milady," Tia said. "I'm going to get as far away as possible because I don't fancy being shot."

"That would probably be wise, he is a danger to anyone within 100 feet of him." Artemis laughed. The two hunters joined their mistress in laughing while they grabbed their stuff and left.

"Right," Artemis said while summoning a bow and handing it to me. "Show me what you remember."

I racked my memories trying to remember what she taught me last time.

"Well come on, hurry up unless you want to be out here all night," she said in a snarky tone.

I shifted my feet to where I thought they should be. Once I was in as good a position as I thought I could be in I looked back at Artemis.

"Um, Lady Artemis, you haven't given me any arrows."

Artemis was just pinching the bridge of her nose in frustration.

"I haven't given you any arrows because if you shot with how you're standing then the arrow would go somewhere over there, it would also probably find itself too close to a local nature spirit." She said gesturing over around 90 degrees to the right of where I was aiming.

Artemis then proceeded to try and pull and push my body into the correct position, however like my last lesson she found that I simply dwarfed her small 12-year-old frame.

"Don't look," she said before she turned back into her older form at around 18 or 19.

Once again she stood around 5' 10" which was only a few inches shorter than me. She still had her auburn hair pulled back in her usual ponytail.

She walked behind me and started trying to manipulate my body into the correct position.

"For Zeus sake!" She cursed. "How hard is it to have your chest out but your back straight?"

"I just can't do it,"

"Right come on," she said determinedly. "We're going to do this until you can consistently hit the target," she said while handing me an arrow

I got back into position but this time Artemis pressed herself against my back using one hand to push my chest out and the other to pull me abdomen in. I pulled the arrow back but wasn't very focused on it, it was rather distracting having a beautiful goddess press herself into your back.

I managed to pull my focus back to the shot I was lining up, I felt Artemis gently turn my head slightly. She laid her head on my shoulder a peered around to look at the target.

"Fire." She said, I shivered as I felt her breath on my neck.

I let go of the arrow and it flew straight hitting the target in the outer most area of the red circle (the second inner most).

"Yes!" I shouted joyfully, that was one of the best shot I'd ever taken.

"Well done, Perseus," Artemis said, obviously thankful that I hadn't hit a nature spirit by accident.

"Can you stop calling me Perseus?" I asked her, I had put up with it since I had started staying with the hunt but truthfully I hated being called Perseus.

"Why? It's a good Greek name." Artemis asked a little confused.

"One its always to formal, it makes me feel old," I said. "Secondly its what my teachers all called me, so it makes me feel like I'm still at school."

"I am teaching you though."

"That's not the point," I said, "lastly there's already been a famous Perseus in Greek history, I'm different from him so I want to be called a different name." Don't get me wrong I'd admired the first Perseus but I wanted to make sure people knew I was different. Maybe it was because my namesake was a son of Zeus and as I'm a son of Poseidon, so I might have a slight subconscious rivalry.

Artemis stood there for a minute, I could tell she was thinking. A smile spread across her face, a little part of me noticed how good she looked when smiled.

"Okay, I have a bet." She said. "I'll call you Percy IF you can hit the red or yellow with 10 arrows out of 30."

"What! I only managed to do that one with your help!"

"Okay, I'll help you but only verbally I won't physically change your position." That sounded fairer.

"Ok but what happens if I lose?" I said, I didn't want to get into a bet without knowing what I could lose.

"You'll have to stay out here until you can hit the red or yellow with 10 out of 20 shots," she answered with a grin.

I thought for a minute, if I lost I would be out here all night, if I somehow one however I would no longer be called Perseus.

"Ok I accept the bet," I said. Artemis just gave me a grin that made me want to rethink my choice.

 **Time skip 45 minutes later**

I had 2 arrows left, I needed to get both within the red or I'll have lost. Artemis for some reason stopped giving me any advice as soon as I only need 2, this explains why I'd missed the past 6 shots.

I set myself up ready for my next shot, once I was in what I though was the correct position I looked at Artemis, she just stood there, her expression giving nothing away. I decided that this would do so I took the shot, I let out a sigh of relief when it hit about an inch within the red.

One more. I thought to myself.

Again I readied myself, trying to copy what I just did. I took a deep breath and held it, I let go of the arrow and prayed that it would hit.

"Yes!" I shouted, delighted that the arrow had sunk itself within the yellow, only around an inch to the bottom left of the bulls-eye.

"Congratulations, Perse- Percy," Artemis said, correcting herself now that I had won the bet. "Praying was certainly an interesting strategy, it didn't help you this time however."

"Wait you heard that?" I asked, slightly embarrassed.

"Of course, I'm the goddess of archery," she said smirking slightly. "Now you're free for the rest of the night."

 **An/: That's the chapter, it was over 3k words. I know its not the most action packed chapter but I'm trying to lay the base for some more Pertemis stuff. I'm at a weird point where I have an idea where I want the fic to go I'm just not sure how to get it there exactly so sorry if the next uploads aren't the speediest, I'll try get them out soon but also try make sure their decent quality.**

 **If you have any feedback, constructive criticism or anything else to say please leave a review. Until next time, goodbye!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

 **Percy POV**

I found myself standing alone in an office of some sort. I was facing a large black desk with a single large leather chair tucked up against it, to my left there was a black leather couch up against the wall. On my right the wall was completely made from glass, from floor to ceiling.

It seemed like a fairly normal office but my gut told me that there was something wrong. I had no idea why I was here, or where here was. I made my way towards the windows, I looked out and what I saw made me step back in both sock and fear.

The landscape outside the windows was unmistakable, I would never forget the endless torture I endured here, I just prayed that this was a dream and I wasn't really back. Tartarus, I was in Tartarus once again.

I was broken out of my thoughts when a door behind me opened, instinctively I reached into my pocket for riptide.

"You won't need that," a voice said, it was deep, cold and familiar.

I knew exactly where I recognized it from, this voice featured in a large amount of my nightmares. I gripped riptide even harder although I kept it in my pocket as I turned towards the voice.

Standing there was a tall man, around 6' 4". He had pale skin and dark black hair that was slicked back. He also had a short well-kept beard that was the same color. He wore an expensive black suit as well as a blood red ring on his finger. His eyes were vacuum like whirlpools of nothingness.

Although I had never seen him before I still instantly knew who it was standing in front of me. I could feel the raw power being expelled off the man in front of me.

"Well, Perseus I assume you've figured out who I am?" he said while making his way towards the seat behind the desk.

"Why am I here?" I asked him sharply. My fingers still clenched around my pen, I knew it would be useless but it helped to calm my nerves.

"Such hostility," He pretended to be mock hurt as he sat down. "Is that really how you talk you your great grandfather?"

I stood there silently waiting for him to reveal why I was here.

"Where are my manners, please take a seat," he said while gesturing towards the couch. "I swear I mean you no harm, I just want to talk with you."

Although every one of my instincts were warning me against it I took a seat.

"Scotch? I know you're not 'of age' or whatever mortals call it but one drink won't harm you, especially since this is a dream."

I was slightly doubtful at first before I realized that if he wanted to cause me harm he would have much easier ways than poison, also as this was a dream I thought fuck it why not. I gave him a small nod which lead him to pull two glasses and a bottle of golden-brown liquid. He poured two drinks before walking round and handing me one then returning to his seat.

I took a sip of the scotch and felt its warm burn slid down my throat, it was strong but pleasurable. I sat there thinking about how strange this was, I was sitting down with Olympus's biggest enemy and having a scotch.

"You're no doubt wondering why I brought you here, especially since our last encounter didn't end on the friendliest of terms." He said breaking the silence.

"I am,"

"Like Pallas told you, you're one of my main targets. Of course, I'm still going to squash those pathetic Olympians but I've got special plans for you." He said while leaning back in his chair, he took a long drink before continuing. "You're a very honorable demi-god and you care a lot for others which is very admirable, so I propose a deal. You surrender yourself to me and I'll spare 10 people of your choosing, they can be anything from mortal to god."

"How can I trust you?" I questioned, I wasn't properly considering this offer but I still wanted to know more.

"As swearing on the Styx means nothing to a primordial I would swear on Chaos, my mother. It is the strongest oath I can make." He explained. "I don't expect an answer right now, however just know that me and my forces are coming for all of you. This would be the only was to keep anyone you care about safe."

"If I made a decision how would I contact you?" I asked, depending on how badly the war ended up going this could be the best way to protect the few people I have left.

"Like any immortal I can receive offerings, just sacrifice something to be and send me a message saying your ready to negotiate," he explained before checking his watch. "Now I'm afraid we're out of time so you'll be waking up soon. Just so you know, until you accept this deal my forces will still be trying to kill you."

My vision started to go black and I found myself back in my tent. I checked my watch and saw that it was 3am. I was already wide awake and I knew I wouldn't be able to sleep again. I pulled off the covers and threw on some clothes before exiting my tent.

I gritted my teeth as the cold air hit me. I wandered through the forest unsure as to where I was going, my mind was on my dream-meeting with Tartarus. I wasn't just focused on his offer but on the entire meeting.

I found myself back at the lake my and Artemis had our convocation at before Pallas's attack. I pulled off my boots and dangled my feet into the water, I immediately felt the water calm my mind. I just sat there for gods know how long letting the water calm me.

After what I thought was probably around an hour I got bored. I decided to get up, I stripped of my clothes and walked into the lake. I started to swim lazily around, basking in the moonlight. My thoughts of Tartarus and his offer long gone as I just focused on the water around me. I dived deep down into the depths and sat there for longer than any normal human could.

I continued to swim around and clear my thoughts and before I realized Apollos chariot was starting to make its way across the sky. I stepped out of the lake and willed myself to dry off before putting my clothes back on and making my way back to the camp. I saw a few of the hunters milling about tiredly and getting breakfast ready, most of them didn't notice me or if they did just ignored me. At breakfast I was surprised to see Artemis with a slight blush, as none of the hunters had seemed to notice or mention it I just let it pass.

 **Artemis POV (back in time around 3 hours)**

I had just flashed myself up to my chariot to check on it as part of my nightly duty, I didn't have to spend long up there but I needed to check on it every other night or nightly.

I stood leaning over the chariot looking down on the area below. I focused on the hunter's camp, just to check everything was okay there. I noticed a figure at the lake nearby and focused on them.

I was surprised to see Perseus -no Percy sitting at the edge with his feet submerged in the water. Percy was never up at this time, usually it took 15 minutes to get him out of his bed. Percy soon stood and surprised me by taking off his clothes, as much as I knew I shouldn't I couldn't avert my eyes. Once he had finished he walked into the lake.

I proceeded to spend the rest of the night watching Percy swim about, occasionally submerging for long amounts of time. I soon realized that I needed to get back to the camp. I looked back and saw Percy climbing out the lake I felt my face heat up a little with a blush before I flashed myself back to camp.

During breakfast I made a conscious effort not to make any eye contact with Percy, this seemed to go unnoticed by everyone thankfully.

"Perce are you alright?" Thalia asked her cousin. I looked up at him and saw that he had dark bags beneath his eyes and he had eaten barely anything and was poking at the food on his plate.

"Yeah, just dreams," he replied although I could tell there was something up with him.

"Percy can I speak with you in private after this?" I asked him.

He looked a little surprised but agreed.

"Milady, why did you call him Percy?" Thalia asked me.

"We had an archery bet last night, if he won I have to call him Percy," I explained to my lieutenant. She looked at me in shock.

"Wait Percy won an archery competition!" she said in amazement.

"Yes, it surprised me as well, he's still hopeless but there is a little light at the end of the tunnel," I agreed.

"Hey I'm right here!" Percy complained.

"Yeah but you can't deny you're hopeless," Thalia replied.

Most of the girls around the table were laughing at Percy's terrible skill with a bow.

"Right, Percy can I speak with you now?"

"Ok," he replied.

I lead him back to my tent where I sat on my bed and he sat on the chair by my desk.

"So what did you want to talk with me about?" he asked.

"I can tell somethings up with you, you look terrible and you haven't eaten which isn't like you. I also saw you by the lake early this morning, you're never up at that time." I confronted him.

He just sighed before explaining.

"Like I said at breakfast dreams," he told he somewhat cryptically. "I had a little meeting with Tartarus," he continued.

"Why, what did he want?" I asked confused, Percy has been the only person with any contact with the primordial of the pit.

"Among a few things it was mainly about an offer he had for me," he told me.

"You idiotic male, why would you even consider any offer he gave you!" I burst out, I thought Perseus would be a little more sensible, how could he even consider it?

"Whoa! Calm down!" he tried to reason with me, I motioned for him to explain before I continued my rant. "He said that if I surrendered myself he would spare 10 people of my choosing."

"So why were you up?" I enquired.

"Well, part of me was considering the off-" I cut him off by slapping him around the face. "You stupid boy! Do you really think that he would keep his offer!"

"Hey!" He complained. "In my defense he said he'd swear on Chaos. Also depending on how badly things go with this war it might be my best shot."

I slapped him again.

"Even if he did swear on Chaos there wouldn't be any advantages, he would still win, the people you chose to save would have to live in a world run my him and his minions. Also you are the most powerful demi-god since the ancient times, maybe even ever, you're also part of the prophecy so you're key in winning this war!" I ranted at the stupid male sitting in front of me.

"Wow Artemis I didn't know you cared that much." He said with a cheeky grin. He never failed to surprise me with how quickly his attitude can change.

 **An/: This chapters a little on the short side but I hope you enjoyed nonetheless. Please let me know what you think.**


	14. Chapter 14

**An/: Well I'm back! Before we get into the chapter I need to apologize for the long wait. I genuinely feel really bad for not uploading for so long, I had a bit of writers block as well as loads of stuff going on in my life. I'll try to get back into more regular uploading again. Anyway I hope you enjoy the chapter!**

 **Chapter 14**

 **Percy POV**

I sat there with a stinging cheek but kept the grin on my face. Watching a flustered Artemis had to be one of my favorite things to do.

Then I got slapped again. _Ok flustered Artemis is fun to watch but likes to slap you._ I thought to myself.

"Of course I care, the prophecy implies you are key to winning the war and you're thinking of surrendering yourself just to save 10 people!" she argued back.

"Gods damnit! Can you stop hitting me! I said I might CONSIDER it depending on how badly the war goes. I have no intention of just surrendering myself if I stand any chance of being able to fight back." I counter argued.

Artemis just huffed and crossed her arms.

"You're free for the rest of the morning," Artemis said dismissing me.

I made my way out of her tent while thinking about what I'd do with my free time. I felt pretty tired so I made my way to me tent to try catch up with some sleep. After I entered my tent I kicked off my shoes and pulled off my shirt before flopping onto my bed.

I was woken by sharp tapping on my cheek, I opened my eyes and saw myself face to face with a woodpecker. I tried to swat the bird away but found my hands were tied around the trunk of a tree behind me. In the time it took me to work out what was going on the bird pecked a couple more times at my face.

"Shoo!" I said while shaking my head to try and dislodge the woodpecker. Thankfully the bird left but as it was flying away it decided to leave me with an unwanted gift.

"Ahh fuck you!" I shouted at the bird as it settled in a nearby tree and cawed at me. I heard a round of laughter from below me, I looked down to see the entire hunt below laughing at me and the bird shit splattered down my face.

"Oh gods that's hilarious!" Thalia gasped between laughs.

With my hands bound behind me I had no choice but to sit there with the entire hunt laughing at my current predicament.

"Girls!" Artemis' voice broke through the laughter. "What's going on?" She asked while walking up to the huddle of girls below the tree I was in.

None of the hunters could regain their breath long enough to explain so Eva just pointed up at me. Artemis looked up and saw me sitting tied to the tree with bird crap down my face and joined the hunters in laughing at me.

"Having fun up there Perseus?" Artemis called up to me.

"Oh yeah it's great up here!" I replied sarcastically. "You should try it sometime."

Artemis just waved me off before looking back at her hunters.

"Anyway girls, I came to tell you that my fathers just contacted me. He said that there's an abnormal amount of monsters around Camp Jupiter, Athena says she thinks there might be an attack planned so we've been ordered to head there to help if a fight does happen."

There were a number of groans from some of the older hunters in protest.

"But Milady-" Phoebe started to complain.

"I know you girls don't like the roman camp or get along with the roman demigods but Zeus has ordered it so we must go. Artemis cut off Phoebe's argument. "Now go pack up camp, we'll be leaving after lunch." She ordered.

All of the hunters started to wander off in the direction of camp ready to disassemble it while I was left up in the tree.

"Umm, Lady Artemis." I called after the goddess who had just turned away.

"Yes Percy?" she said turning around towards me.

"Could you get me down, or at least untie me?" I asked.

The goddess just stood there while putting her hand on her chin and looking up in an over exaggerated thinking pose.

"I don't know, maybe." She said, drawing it out. "I'm struggling to see what I'd gain from it."

"Oh come on, please!" I pleaded the goddess. To any one who walked in on the situation it must have been a strange sight, an auburn haired 12 year old girl grinning evilly at a 18 year old guy who was tied to a tree with bird crap down his face.

"This bird crap stinks, and the tree is really uncomfortable." I said trying to persuade the goddess.

"Hmm I don't know, I still don't see what I'd gain."

I could tell that she was enjoying my discomfort.

"There's very easy way for you to free yourself," she told me.

I tried to think of what she was talking about but I had no idea what she meant. She could tell from my expression that I was confused.

"Come on it's obvious," she goaded me.

"I don't know what your talking about, please just let me down." I replied, I was getting annoyed now, the tree was really uncomfortable. Not to mention that I had bird crap down my face.

"Stupid male," she said under her breath. "You'd better figure out how to free yourself before lunch or you'll have to catch up with us." She said before walking off leaving me alone.

I sat there struggling against the ropes cursing about evil hunters and their goddess for a solid five minutes. Soon the smell of what the hunters were cooking for lunch reached me and I started struggling even harder. Partially because I knew they would be leaving soon and partially because I was hungry.

At the thought of food my stomach growled and I wondered if I could summon something for me to eat.

 _Oh gods I'm an idiot,_ I thought to myself. I had completely forgotten about my mom's blessing. I quickly focused on setting my hands on fire, careful not to set the tree alight. Soon my hands were free, I had red marks around my wrist from where the rope rubbed against them.

"Jeez seaweed brain that took you a long time to figure, even for you." I heard Thalia say.

I looked around and saw Thalia, Artemis and the rest of the hunt standing there watching while finishing their lunch off.

"Can someone give me a hand down?" I asked looking at the drop down to the forest floor below. "Do you have a ladder or something?"

Thalia just lent into Artemis and whispered something in her ear, Artemis grew an evil grin that told me I wouldn't like whatever they were talking about.

"Go ahead Thalia, you have my permission." She told my cousin who just laughed.

There was a sudden rumble of thunder before I was shocked by a small lighting bolt. The bolt itself didn't hurt too bad but it caused me to jump and I ended up falling out the tree, which needless to say hurt like Hades.

"Eugh," I groaned as I spat out a mouthful of dirt. "Thanks for that Thals."

"Well you wanted a hand down…" she replied with a cheeky grin.

"Anyway, that's enough fun," Artemis cut in. "Perseus go clean yourself up, we're leaving soon."

"I thought we agreed you'd stop calling me Perseus," I complained while standing up.

"Hurry up," she said ignoring me.

I went off to the river to wash the dirt and the woodpeckers gift off my face. Once I'd done that I headed back to my tent to change my shirt. I realized that the hunters had finished packing up and were just messing about ready to leave. I went to find Thalia as I didn't know how to take my tent down.

"Hey Thals!" I called when I saw my cousin chatting with Phoebe.

"What's up Perce?" she asked while Phoebe just made a face of disgust at when she saw me.

"Can you help me pack up my tent?" I asked.

"Sure," she said getting up off the log she was sitting on.

Soon my tent was back in the little silver square that Artemis gave me the first day I had arrived at the hunt.

"Right girls are you all ready to go?" Artemis asked.

"We've been ready for ages milady, we've been waiting on the boy." Someone called out, I think it was Tia but I don't know the hunt well enough to tell them apart just from their voices.

"Anyway come on lets get going while there's still light." Artemis said. "Oh and Percy," she said turning to me. "You'd better keep up, I don't want any excuses." She turned an ran off into the woods with the hunters following her.

 **Linebreak**

Travelling with the hunters was exhausting, weaving through trees trying not to trip over roots. The hunters never seemed to slow below a fast jog. I doesn't seem that bad but when your running at that pace for hours its really hard work.

None of the hunters really seemed to be getting tired, even Chole was doing better than me. I suppose Artemis' blessing probably helps them.

I spent most of the run at the back, chatting with Chole and Thalia when I had the breath. Which wasn't very often so most of the time I was either listening to them or running in silence. Me and Thalia explained about Camp Jupiter and the Roman gods to Chole who was eager to learn about the new world she had entered into since joining the hunt.

Soon the landscape started to change and the light started to die so Artemis found somewhere suitable to set up camp. To say I was pleased we were stopping for the night was an understatement.

I pitched my tent away from where the hunters were pitching theirs. As the hunters went about setting up the rest of the camp I knew I would be an unwanted hindrance so I just wandered about thinking.

I was shaken about of my thoughts by a voice.

"I said what are you doing?" I recognized the voice of that of Artemis who was standing nearby.

"Oh I'm just thinking." I replied.

"Well there's a first for everything," she joked.

"Haha," I fake laughed. "lady Artemis, why are the hunters so reluctant to go to Camp Jupiter?" I asked.

"Well the hunt has always been Greek so there's the obvious conflict, the hunt haven't been in contact with the Romans for hundreds of years. Also you know how much they hate the Greek camp and the romans are much stricter." Artemis explained to me. "Also my Roman counterpart Diana is quite different to me."

"I thought the gods counterparts were basically the same? Or maybe a little stricter?" I asked although I didn't have much knowledge on the gods aspects.

"They usually are although Diana is an exception," Artemis explained.

"So will you be turning into Diana when we get there?" I asked, I was curious to see Artemis' 'different' aspect.

"No I won't," Artemis explained. "I usually would but Diana is currently in a comatose like state now. Due to the gods lack of power after the past two wars, and as the hunt is entirely Greek I'm the stronger aspect even while we're at camp Jupiter."

"Ah okay," I said pretending to understand but in reality I was lost. Was it just me that thinks of a piece of toast in hospital every time they the word comatose?

"-so that's why the hunt doesn't like the Romans and why I'll stay as Artemis," I realized that Artemis was still talking but my mind had gotten sidetracked.

"Anyway, it should be time for dinner." She said walking back in the direction of the camp. "You need to work on your food summoning powers because I expect you to be able to summon food for the entire hunt soon."

Wait since when was I going to be the chef/slave of the hunt? I knew she was right and that I needed to practice with all my powers, especially my new ones. For the time being I followed the girl-goddess because I was starving after the running.

 **An/: That's the end of the chapter, I hope you enjoyed. Again sorry for the wait for this chapter. I know it was on the shorter side sorry! Please review and let me know what you thought.**


	15. Chapter 15

**An/: Well… it's been a while. I can only apologise for the ridiculously long wait for this chapter, I've been quite seriously unwell and have spent most of the past few months in hospital. I'm out now and feeling better so am going to try and get back into updating this story. I'm still not completely better and have lots of appointments so I'm not going to promise a strict update schedule but I'll try to update as often as possible, I have definitely not abandoned this story though.**

 **Artemis POV**

I walked towards where the hunters had set up the dining area leaving Percy to follow behind me. I started thinking about Diana and the romans. Diana had always been weaker than me, even back in the days of Rome. Recently she had spent most of her time, well actually all her time piloting the moon chariot.

Diana had always been… different. While most of the god's roman aspects are stricter and more military focused, she isn't. Maybe it was because I'm already strict or maybe it has to with the amount of time she's spent alone on our chariot. Either way she's quite different to me.

I was brought out of my thoughts of my counterpart and the romans by the hunt greeting me while they all sat round the table. I took my place at the head of the table as Percy took a seat down the other end by Chloe. The mood at the table was mixed, some of the hunt were dreading our visit to New Rome and some of them were planning what pranks they will play on the romans.

"Milady, how long until we reach New Rome?" Chloe asked through a mouthful of food. I could tell she was the most excited to visit the romans, possibly because she has never been to either of the camps.

"Depending on how certain members keep up," I say while glancing at Percy." Then hopefully tomorrow night, but more likely the morning after." She seemed content with that answer and went back to shovelling food into her mouth.

 **Linebreak**

The next morning I was overseeing the hunt packing up camp I thought I saw something move in the trees however Thalia called me over before I could go and investigate so I just brushed it off.

"Milady, that's us ready to move again," my lieutenant told me.

"Right then let's go." I said before setting of at a run. I could a glimpse of Percy sighing before following behind the rest of the girls.

The day was mostly uneventful and as I suspected Percy couldn't keep up the same pace as the rest of the us, so we had to make another camp at nightfall. Chloe was also struggling to keep up but her recent blessing helped her keep going. I knew we weren't far from Camp Jupiter but I could tell everyone apart from Chloe, Percy and Thalia wanted to delay our arrival, so I let us pitch camp for the night.

 **Percy POV**

It was after dinner and I was exploring the woods around our camp. I found a fallen down tree and was just lying back against it. I was peering through the tree canopy at the starts above, I could just about make out Orion. From the stories I've heard during my short time with the hunt and while I was travelling with Zoe on our quest to save Artemis and Annabeth, my respect for the hunter has changed to disgust.

I was brought out my thoughts of the vile hunter by something rustling in the trees to my right. I looked but couldn't see anything there, I carefully summoned a little flame to my hand to give me some light but I still couldn't see what had disturbed me. I had an odd feeling that I wasn't alone, I told myself that I was just being paranoid but still felt uneasy, so I headed back in the direction of the camp.

The next morning, I woke up incredibly stiff (not in that way….) by muscles were aching from 2 days of running with the hunt. I really wanted to go back to bed or possibly have a nice long soaking in a river but I knew that I wouldn't be so lucky, so I dragged myself up and out to the dining area for some breakfast.

We set off again however I started to fall behind, what can I say I'm not made for this much running. Eventually I lost sight of the hunters and I tried to call out to them to get them to slow down or stop but I was so out of breath that no one heard me. I had to guess which direction I needed to go in but I soon found myself at a hill that was strangely familiar, but I couldn't quite remember why.

"Well well well. Look what we have here. The little son of Poseidon all alone, finally left behind by the hunt."

I jumped as I heard someone talk, well more like hiss behind me. It suddenly dawned on me why this hill felt familiar, this had been where I performed my amazing/suicidal sledding stunt on a tray of cheese 'n' wieners. I turned around to find myself once again faced with the gorgon sisters, Stheno and Euryale.

"Well isn't this a nice and familiar reunion," Euryale said while approaching me, the snakes framing her head were all hissing agitatedly at me.

"Yeah actually I remember it very well," I replied. My hand slipped into my pocket and closed around riptide, last time I ran but that's was when I amnesic, now I'm ready to fight.

 **An/: Sorry for the short chapter and I know its not very well written but I'm just trying to get back into the habit of writing. Again I can't apologise enough for the ridiculous delay for this chapter.**

 **Please let me know what you think.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Percy POV**

The two gorgons walked closer to me and I pulled riptide out and uncapped it. Within a second my trusty bronze xiphos was in my hand and I was ready to fight.

"Ah so this time you're going to try and fight," Euryale said almost mockingly.

"Do we have to fight? It would be must more pleasant to have some cheese 'n' wieners, or have you stopped selling those?" I jokingly asked Stheno.

"Ah I'm afraid we're, um, under new management as you mortals would say. Our new boss isn't offering them; however, the hours are flexible and the employee benefits are great!" Stheno replied, disappointed at first but cheering up at the end.

"Let me guess, this new boss of yours is my lovely old great grandfather." I reply, already knowing the answer but I was just stalling for a bit more time.

"Correct! And once we bring you to him we'll almost certainly be promoted." Stheno answered, her green snake hair starting to become more agitated and I could tell I was out of time.

"Shut up already," Euryale snapped at her sister. "Let's fight him already."

I got myself into a fighting stance and waited for my two attackers to approach me. The harder monsters to fight are the ones with more than way to attack you. With gorgons you must look out for their claws and tusks not to mention the snakes. So, I decided to stay on the defensive, especially since there were two of them. I slowly backed up while using riptide to block their attacks. It wasn't long before I saw an opening to go on the offensive, I managed to land a deep slash on Stheno's shoulder. I went to follow up on my attack but Euryale managed to sneak under my guard and scrapped her claws along my thigh.

"Ah shit!" I cursed and stumbled backwards. If you've ever stumbled backwards only to find nothing under your feet you'll know it's not exactly a fun experience. This was the situation I found myself in, I fell backwards down the steep slope of the hill towards the highway. When I had stopped I stood up, pulled a twig out my hair and brushed the dirt of my jeans. I looked around and noticed that by the time I'd stopped sliding I was closer to the highway at the bottom than to the top where the gorgon sisters where just watching. I remembered that last time they sprouted wings so I knew that I didn't have long before they had closed the distance and I need to fight them again.

I was surprised when I heard suppressed laughter coming from behind me. I spun around and readied riptide however I found myself looking at an Iris message of the hunt. I could see Eva and Phoebe openly laughing in the background and Thalia and Artemis standing at the front of the IM, both were obviously trying their hardest not to join in with the laughter.

"Well that was graceful," snickered Thalia. "Where are you, we're almost at the entrance to Camp Jupiter."

"Oh you know me, I've just met up with a couple old friends."

"Old friends…?" Thalia asked.

"Oh they'll be here soon," I answer somewhat cryptically before turning back towards the gorgons. Thalia and Artemis both notice where I'm looking and follow my gaze.

"That's Euryale and Stheno. How did they reform so fast?" Artemis asked.

"Believe it or not but we didn't sit down for a nice little catch up before deciding to fight. Well actually we did have a bit of a chat but that's not the point." I say. The gorgons were flying towards me quite rapidly.

"Milady,-" Thalia started before realising that her patron goddess was no longer there.

A silver flash to my left made me turn around, and the goddess of the hunt was standing there.

"Hello Lady Artemis, nice of you to drop by." I say while watching the two monsters get closer. They notice the appearance of the Olympian and land a short distance away.

"What are you doing here, goddess?" Euryale asked Artemis. "You have no business here, you cannot interfere, the ancient laws forbit it."

"Well they normally do, however Percy is currently a temporary member of the hunt, therefor I am perfectly within my rights to interfere." Artemis replies with a hint of smugness. I could tell that the gorgons were surprised by this information and to be honest so was I.

"A male in your hunt, that's absurd!" countered Stheno. "You're lying."

"Do you really want to take the chance?" Artemis taunted, summoning her bow as she spoke. "How long do you think it'll take for you to reform this time?"

The sisters exchanged a look at each other before glancing back towards me and Artemis then turning around and flying off.

"Thanks for that Milady," I say turning towards the goddess while putting the cap back on riptide. "Is it true that you could have interfered?"

"Yes it is, you're currently a part of the hunt, do you remember when you made that oath to me on Olympus? Although not the usual oath under the circumstances it was enough to make you an honorary member." Artemis explained before turning around and walking in the direction of the highway. "Come on, we need to get back to the hunt."

"How far away is that?" I sigh while following the goddess.

"About 1 and a half kilometres,"

"I have no idea how far that is," I reply honestly.

"Really Perseus? It's about 16 football fields," She explained exasperatedly.

"Hey don't blame me, I had a rather interrupted schooling," I try and defend myself before following Artemis once again.

We got back to where the hunt was gathered and my knees were starting to ache. Hey, I fell down a hill, I have excuse to be sore.

"Percy! Where have you been?" Chloe asked running up to me. "I was worried when we lost you!"

"How did you lose us anyway?" asked Thalia walking up behind the younger hunter. Artemis turned to me evidently awaiting an explanation as well.

I rubbed the back of my head sheepishly, "Umm I just sort of fell behind and got lost." I explained. "Anyway, shouldn't we go to New Rome?" I ask trying to change the subject.

"Yes I suppose we've delayed it enough," Artemis agreed. "Girls!" she called to the rest of the hunt who walked over to us. "We'll be going into New Rome and Camp Jupiter now. Now, Phoebe is the only one of you who has ever met any Romans, so I don't expect any of you to have any pre-conceived prejudices. In return I will make sure that the Romans treat us all with appropriate respect."

We started to walk along to the tunnel entrance when Artemis stopped and turned around to face us. "Another thing is I'm going to disguise my appearance before we meet the Romans and I would like you to refer to me as Lily." She told us.

"Umm Lady Artemis, can I ask why?" Thalia inquired.

"One, because if the Romans know its me then they'll naturally start thinking of me as Diana and because of the current state of the gods that will give me essentially a godly level migraine and will make me more irritable and unpredictable." Artemis starts to explain.

"That's the last thing we need," I mutter under my breath.

"What was that Perseus?" Artemis asked in a uncharacteristically sweet voice so I knew she had heard but for some reason she dropped the subject and went back to what she was explaining. "The second reason for me hiding my identity is that I think there could be some fun prank opportunities," she said with a smirk at the end.

She then snapped her fingers and her eyes changed from her signature silver to a duller sort of grey, she could almost pass off as a child of Athena. If you looked hard enough you could see through the thin layer of mist and catch a glimpse of her true eye color. But to notice that you'd have to stare hard into her eyes, which is something I wouldn't dream of doing, yet somehow found myself doing.

"Right, come on then," she said heading towards the two Roman legionnaires guarding the tunnel entrance.

 **AN/: That's the end of the chapter, I hope you enjoyed. I know its shorter than most of the previous chapters but like I said** **last chapter I'm just trying to get the updates out. And my goal is to get chapters out with 1000+ words at a decent quality, and I hope I've succeeded. Please let me know what you think, both the good and the bad.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

 **Percy POV**

"Halt, who goes there?!" the bigger legionnaire called out as we approached. He was a slightly overweight kid about 16 or 17 years old. None of the hunters replied instead we just carried on walking towards the entrance. "I said who goes there!" he shouted again, lowering his pilum.

"Remember, I'm undercover so you take the lead," 'Lily,' whispered to Thalia. The daughter of Zeus took the lead as we approached the romans.

"We are the hunters of Artemis, Diana even," she informed them. The boy just scoffed.

"Greeks, really? Why are you here, don't you have your own camp?"

"Yes, we are Greek, but we don't stay at their camp. We are here under orders from our mistress to come here. So, unless you have a problem with that then let us pass." Thalia said confidently, she was only a few feet from the guard now and the rest of the hunt were just behind her.

The pudgy guard looked like he was about to argue but his partner pulled him to the side and whispered something in his ear. They had what seemed like a whispered argument before the first guard relented and the second stepped forwards.

"Of course you're welcome to Camp Jupiter," he said. He was a nervous looking kid who looked terrified of the hunt (which he should be). He was a short and skinny teenager with a serious acne problem. He opened the service tunnel entrance and went inside, the hunt lead by Thalia followed and the other guard closed the door and reluctantly followed.

The walk through the tunnel was uneventful with only a few sentences exchanged within the hunt. Most of them were poking fun at the obviously on edge roman who was leading the way.

It wasn't long before light flooded the tunnel and the roman camp came into view. We crossed over the Little Tiber and passed through the gates. We were greeted by Reyna, Jason and Piper, Thalia stepped forwards to hug her brother.

"Sup little bro,"

"Hey Thals, what brings the hunt to New Rome for the first time in a millennium?" He said stepping back and looking at the group of teenage girls, and me. "And Percy what're you doing with them?"

"We've been ordered by Dad to come here to lend a hand if you get attacked," Thalia explained to her godly younger brother.

"Thanks, the amount of monsters that've been spotted in the area is worrying. We've not been attacked yet but we're expecting one any day around now and it's going to be a serious battle once they attack." Jason responded. "Still why is Percy here?"

"The council decided that after the prophecy was issued that I should travel with the hunt," I explained. The two guards who didn't know the exact lines of the prophecy looked a little confused but neither dared to inquire further.

"Ok, so where will the hunt be staying?" Reyna asked stepping forwards. "I'm sure we could find some accommodation in New Rome for you all."

"That won't be necessary thank you," Thalia replied. "We'd prefer not to part with our weaponry. We'll pitch our camp on the edge of the Fields or Mars, I trust that'll be ok?"

"Of course that's fine," Reyna looked a little surprised that the hunt declined staying in New Rome but agreed nonetheless. "Shall we show you the way?"

"No offence to you two," Thalia said turning to her brother and his girlfriend. "But I think the hunt would prefer it if Reyna lead the way."

Jason and Piper looked a little insulted before they worked out what Thalia was talking about. Piper's face turned to embarrassment as she realised what was implied.

"Ok then, this way," Reyna said, turning around and heading down the street. "So where's Lady Diana?" She asked as we walked past the 3rd cohort's barracks.

"She has other business to attend to," Thalia lied before sending a smirk towards the disguised goddess.

We got to the edges of the Field of Mars and the hunt spread out and started setting up their camp, I wandered a little way away from the rest of the hunt and pulled out my folded-up tent. I set up my silver tent and headed inside where I sat on my bed resting after our long time travelling.

 **Linebreak**

I was woken up by a slight stinging on my cheek and I sat up and was faced with a hunter that I didn't recognise.

"What? W-who are you?" I ask groggily rubbing my eyes and sitting up.

"For the gods sake Percy, it's me." She said, her eyes flashing silver for a second.

"Oh Lady Artemis," I yawned. "Sorry I didn't recognise you. Uhm, what are you doing in my tent?" Maybe it was just my overtired brain playing tricks on me but I could have sworn I saw the beginnings of a godly golden blush creep up her cheeks.

"I came to see where you were. Dinner is about to begin and you were nowhere to be seen which is uncharacteristic of you." She explained.

"Oh. Thanks," I stand up and stretch before heading out of my tent, the goddess following me. We join up with the rest of the hunt and make our way to the dining area where a separate table had been set up for the hunt. I take a seat at the end next to Chloe.

"Romans!" Reyna calls, quieting the legion. "As you may have noticed we have some guests. We are currently hosts to Lady Diana's hunt, they are here on the orders of Lord Jupiter to aid us if we are attacked. I expect them to be treated with respect and in turn I'm sure they will treat us the same way. My second announcement is that war games will take place tomorrow evening." She turns to the hunts table. "The hunt is most welcome to join in if you would like," she offered.

"Thank you praetor, we'll take you up on your offer." Thalia answers.

 **AN/: That's the end of the chapter, I don't feel like much has happened, sorry about that but I wanted to get this chapter out because it has been longer than I wanted since the last chapter.**

 **Please let me know any thoughts you have.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

 **Please read AN at the end.**

 **Percy POV**

The hunt all looked excited at the thought of fighting against the Romans, I wasn't sure if I'd be including in the 'hunt' team or not.

"Excellent, I'm sure will be able to figure out a suitable game. Now," Reyna said turning to the Romans, "Let us eat."

As always the food was great, although for the Romans don't do blue cola so I had to settle with normal. The mood at the table was light and jolly (at least for the hunt) mostly due to them looking forward to inflicting injuries upon the Romans. As we ate I mostly stayed out of the conversation, letting the hunt chat excitedly about the next days war games. I had just start tucking into a large slice of cherry pie when an elderly lar came wheezing into the dining area (can ghosts get out of breath?). He rushed over to the head table while adjusting his toga and panted out something to Reyna whose expression darkened immediately. She had a quick discussion with Jason and Piper who both stood from their seats.

Jason swiftly make his way over to us. "Thalia, you need to come and see this." He said to his sister once he reached the table. "Perce you should come too," he added.

"Ok," Thalia said as we stood from our seats. "What are we going to see?"

"Just hurry we'll explain on the way," Jason replied, I could tell from the way he was acting that whatever this was about was serious.

Thalia could tell this as well so she didn't ask any more questions she simply addressed the hunt. "Phoebe, you're in charge until I'm back."

We followed Jason over to where Reyna and Piper were waiting by the edge of the dining area. As we passed a few romans glanced at us but didn't' question us.

"So what's wrong?" I asked as the five of us made our way around the outskirts of the camp.

"One of the look outs spotted an army to the East, They're not advancing on us currently but no doubt they will soon." Reyna explained. "We're going to evaluate their force hopefully without worrying the legion."

We arrived behind the armoury where there was a legionnaire looking through some binoculars down the hill where I could just about make out a large monstrous force. They were incredibly far away but I could defiantly make out two giants among the mob of nightmarish monsters.

"Well this should be fun." I say breaking the silence.

 **AN/: I'm so sorry for the delay in this chapter, I was back in hospital for a while but am once again out. Hopefully I won't be admitted again but who knows what will happen. I'm also sorry for the length of this chapter but I just wanted to get another chapter out and show that I haven't just abandoned this story.**

 **I hope this chapter was alright and I'll try get another out soon.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

 **Percy POV**

"So, what's the plan?" Piper asked, ignoring my crappy attempt at lightening the mood.

"I'll get the legion to prepare. Looking at the size of that army it'll take them at least a day to reach us and to get ready to fight. We should have time to get a defence set up." Reyna said, she spoke confidently but I could tell she was a little worried but trying to hide it. I couldn't blame her, it was a large army and I knew she cared a lot for Camp Jupiter and New Rome.

"Tell me where you want the hunt and I'll get the girls into position," Thalia said confidently. I was always amazed how much Thalia changed when she had to start giving orders. Her usually casual, laid-back, don't give a damn attitude disappears and is replaced by the fierce lieutenant of Artemis and daughter of Zeus who will fight for what she believes in no matter who or what she faces. Part of me wondered if others saw a similar change in me.

"-and we'll have the 5th cohort on the far south-east." Jason was saying while I was zoned out thinking.

"Will that be enough?" Piper asked.

"It'll have to be." Reyna said determinedly. "The roman gods aren't as involved as the Greek and usually leave us to fight our battles ourselves. Still it wouldn't hurt if Jason or Thalia could try contact Lord Jupiter."

I looked at Thalia silently asking her if we should tell them about Artemis. She seemed to catch on to what I was asking her, and she gave me a slight shake of her head in return. I wasn't sure why she elected to keep it a secret but Artemis was her goddess, so I went along with it.

Reyna turned to the lookout who had been sanding to the side still watching the horde of mythological beasts. "Stay here for now, I'll get someone else to take a shift when the legions all briefed." The girl just nodded and turned back to her assignment.

We walked swiftly and in a worried silence back to the dining area where the legion was still eating blissfully oblivious to the oncoming threat. The 3 full immortals made their way back to the head table while me and Thalia split off in the direction of the hunts allocated table. We hadn't quite gotten to our seats when Reyna tapped her spoon against her glass attempting to gain the attention of the romans, a few of the hunt glanced over in her direction but most were just waiting for Thalia to explain.

The glass wasn't loud enough to get the full attention of the legion so Reyna decided a more direct approach would be better. "Quiet!" she bellowed of the chatter of the combined cohorts. It was certainly much more effective and silenced each legionnaire. "Thank you," she said in a quieter voice but still loud enough to be heard. "One of our lookouts has sighted an army entrenched to the east." There was an outbreak of worried chatter but Reyna continued none the less. "Currently they are stationary but we will set up defences asap. Now, all legionnaires go and get your armour and weapons, centurions are to come with me."

Immediately the romans leapt up and rushed out to follow their orders and meanwhile the hunt started to bombard Thalia with questions. Thalia however ignored them all and just turned to her mistress who was the only one not to have said anything.

"Come, lets head back to our camp." Artemis said while standing up from the table. "Thalia will bring us up to date while we walk." She said while turning and walking away. The hunt immediately followed the disguised goddess leaving me to trail behind. While we walked Thalia explained what we had seen and occasionally turned to me for confirmation on some of the details. She had just finished talking and the conversation turned to strategy when Chloe fell to the back of the group so that she was walking alongside me. I could tell from her face she was terrified and had tears welling up in the corners of her eyes both reactions I found more than understandable.

"Hey it'll be ok," I said softly to her, I knew it was cliché but it was the first thought that popped into my mind.

"But I've only just joined the hunt." She said.

"Exactly," I said stopping and crouching down to her level. "No ones expecting anything of you, I expect you'll be sent into New Rome until the battles over." I said to her it seemed to soothe her a little.

"But what about you and the rest of the hunt, you'll all be fighting. You could all get hurt."

I placed a hand on her shoulder and said, "It's sweet of you to care but there's no need to worry. This is far from any of our first battles. I not spent that much time travelling with the hunt but I've fought with them multiple times and they're incredible, they've also got Thalia who is the daughter of the king of the gods and I know from first-hand experience that she can fight just about anything and win. Not to mention Lady Artemis is with them and she's not just an Olympian but one of the most gifted gods in combat. I'm sure the hunt will be fine." As I spoke I realised that I was also trying to reassure myself, the hunt had suffered serious losses during the giant war and weren't as powerful as they once were. I was mainly worried about Thalia as I didn't have any personal connections with anyone else aside from Chloe but I knew any casualties the hunt might take would have a serious effect on my cousin.

"What about you?" Chloe asked seeming a little further from tears now but still worried.

"I'll be fine, I promise," I said standing up.

"Pinkie," Chloe demanded.

"Okay I pinkie promise," I said. "We should catch up with the others." I say noticing how far behind we were.

 **AN/: I'm back! It's been well over a month since I last posted a chapter so sorry about that, I've been struggling IRL but hopefully will get at least one more chapter out this month. Thanks everyone for the support and advice you've been giving me, I hope I'll be able to incorporate what you've said. Please keep all the feedback coming it really helps to know what you guys think.**


	20. Chapter 20

**AN/: Just a quick AN to say my laptop has decided to go to UK English and won't change back so there might be some different spellings.**

 **Chapter 20**

 **Percy POV**

By the time Chloe and I had caught up with the hunt they had made it back to camp and had started to scatter in the direction of their tents. Thalia and Artemis hadn't left for their tents and were standing talking to each other. Artemis saw us and gestured for me and Chloe to join them.

"The girls have gone to prepare themselves; Perseus and Thalia I'd recommend you'd do the same." The girl-goddess said to us. "We'll be heading back into Camp Jupiter in 30 minutes so do whatever you wish until then. But don't be late." She said aiming her last point at me.

"Yes milady," Thalia said with a short bow before walking away. Noticing the goddess's use of my full name I thought it would be best to follow Thalia's example so I gave Artemis a bow which for me was low however I was still taller than auburn haired girl.

As I walked towards my tent on the farthest edge of the camp I found myself dwelling on Artemis's use of my name. Ever since our little archery bet she had been calling me Percy just about constantly. I'm not sure why it bothered me so much, I was called by my full name by just about every god. Maybe that was it- when she called me Percy she felt more like a friend than an ancient super-powerful deity. I still wasn't sure of her reasoning, maybe it was just because of the coming battle she had a lot on her mind and reverted back to calling me Perseus. By the time I'd reached my tent I had just about convinced myself that was the reason and nothing else.

After entering my magical tent I got while I'm travelling with the hunt I rooted through my closet and pulled out my armour and set it on my bed. It was just a standard set of bronze Greek armour that Chiron had given me when I left Camp. I sat down in my chair looking at my armour and resting my chin on my hands. Truth be told I was nervous; this was my first battle since the battle with Gaia and loosing Annabeth. I still felt like my insides were missing and were replaced with a void, but now that we're at war once again I'm trying to keep going. I went over to my bedside table and opened the top draw, inside there were two pictures. One was of me and Annabeth leaning on the railing of the Argo II, the wind blowing her blonde hair all over my face but we were both laughing. It was taken only a couple days before I lost her. The second picture was of my mum and me at the cabin in Montauk. She was still in her work clothes and had tired bags under her eyes and I was only seven but it was one of my favourite trips and memories. I lost track of how long I spent staring at the pictures and reminiscing, but the cool damp feeling of a tear running down my cheek snapped me back to the present.

I quickly strapped my armour on and grabbed riptide before heading out where the rest of the hunt had already gathered. Each hunter was wearing their usual combat boots, silver camo trousers and a silver t-shirt, they now also had lightweight leather armour with a silver vine design spread across them and a deer on the back of the chest piece. They were each holding a hunting bow with a quiver of arrows with silver fletching slung across their backs, they each also had a large hunting knife strapped to their hip. Thalia wasn't dressed like her sisters-in-arms, she was wearing the same bonze armour as me and had her spear extended and was fiddling with her bracelet, keeping aegis concealed for the moment. Chloe and Artemis were the only two members of the hunt not present however it wasn't long before they appeared at the door of the goddess's tent. Chloe was still wearing the standard hunt clothes without the leather armour and Artemis was dressed the same as her followers only with a second knife strapped to her thigh.

"Right girls," Artemis said stepping up to the circle of girls. "Ready? Let's go." She said without even waiting for a reply.

We walked back towards Camp Jupiter and the hunt's mood seemed rather upbeat. Chloe was chatting with Maddy and Eva so I was walking alone a few yards behind the hunt. We'd reached the camp border when Artemis stopped and called Chloe forward.

"Follow the border round until you reach an armless statue, explain to him the situation and he'll let you into New Rome. Stay within the city until we come get you, you'll be safe as long as your within the city limits." Artemis explained to Chloe who nodded in understanding.

"Good luck!" Chloe said turning from facing Artemis so she could see the rest of us.

"See you soon," Thalia said ruffling Chloe's hair, before the blonde walked off down towards New Rome.

"Right come on girls," Artemis said before resuming her way into camp.

As we walked through Camp Jupiter it was eerily quiet, usually there were legionnaires wandering about. There even seemed to be less lars than usual. As we were walking past some of the barracks Thalia slowed down and dropped to the back of the group alongside me.

"How're you feeling?" I asked her.

"Nervous," She said after a brief pause. "I don't have to worry about Jason now he's a god but the hunt can't afford any more losses. And honestly," she said dropping her voice down to a whisper. "I'm not sure if Artemis can take it either. With the hunt being so small she's weaker than she should be, not to mention her personal connection with every hunter she's lost." I said nothing but nodded in agreement, we walked in silence for a moment before Thalia spoke again, this time at a normal volume again. "Kinda excited as well though, nothing like a good fight to blow off some stress."

We found Reyna, Jason and Piper at the edge of camp where the lookout had spotted the army, only this time the lookout wasn't here, she was probably getting ready with the rest of the romans.

"Ah good you're here," Reyna said when she saw us approach, her expression was grim and I couldn't blame her. The army had moved forwards but they were at a halt for the moment once again. She was wearing her golden armour that was polished to perfection, her purple praetor's cape flowing behind her.

"So what's the plan?" Thalia asked.

"Well we now have 6 cohorts, the last being made up of retired legionaries from New Rome. They'll set up down there." Reyna said gesturing down the hill. "You know how you like to attack better than I do so I'll leave it up to you to position the hunt."

"Ok," Thalia said before pausing then asking, "Are we getting any help from the gods?"

Jason shook his head. "I contacted dad but he says the ancient laws prevent them from interfering. And as none of us minor gods can help either. Reyna will be the only one who can fight because she's not a god merely immortal. Without any godly help were probably screwed.

Thalia and 'lily' exchanged looks and Artemis gave Thalia a nod.

"Well, little brother I've got a surprise for you." Thalia said with a knowing grin. Jason just looked at his sister with a confused expression on his face. "We have a secret weapon, may I introduce you to Lady Artemis." Artemis stepped forward and lowered the mist dulling the colour of her eyes, letting her natural silver eyes shine.

The three immortals gasped and payed their respects to the Olympian goddess standing before them.

"Lady Artemis, may I ask why you kept your identity hidden." Piper inquired cautiously. Artemis then explained about how the romans thinking about her as Diana would cause problems. The three of them seem to understand her reasoning. "So will you be able take part in the fight?"

"As long as the hunt are taking part I will be able to join," the Olympian confirmed. Jason let out a sigh of relief at the arrival of the new information.

"Ok so we've got a much better chance now, thanks to you," Jason said to Artemis. "Will you be leading the hunt?"

"No, Thalia will be in charge to not raise questions. I'd like to keep myself hidden for as long as possible." The goddess of the hunt explained.

"Ok, that leads us onto who is leading the romans." Reyna said. "Since Frank became a god he's no longer praetor and we've not elected anyone else. So that leaves only one person qualified to fill the position." She said looking at me. I tried to figure out who she was talking about but I don't know all the romans. I realised that no one was talking and they were instead all looking at me.

"What?" I asked a little creeped out as to why they were all staring at me.

"Oh gods of Olympus, you're an idiot." Artemis exclaimed. "You're going to have to lead the romans alongside Reyna."

At this point Reyna stepped forward with a bundle of purple cloth in her arms. She unfurled the cloth and draped it over my shoulder and fastened it to my armour. I had only worn the praetor's cape for a day so I found it strange feeling the fabric flapping against my legs.

"Welcome back, Praetor Jackson," Reyna said with a smirk stepping back. "You won't have to be praetor permanently, but we need I need a colleague for this."

 **AN/: As promised another chapter before the end of the month. Hope it was alright and please let me know what you think either good or bad.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

 **Percy POV**

Jason started to speak but was drowned out by the thunderous noise of the legion beginning to march down the hill to where they were going to meet Tartarus's army. The each step the legion made was perfectly in time, there wasn't a single legionnaire out of step. Even the clanking of armour was perfectly synchronised, it was an impressive sight and sound. The fifth cohort came into view, proudly carrying the eagle standard. I scanned the cohort looking for anyone I remembered from my brief time with them. Apart from Dakota leading the cohort with his partner centurion who I didn't know I couldn't see anyone I recognised.

Following the fifth was the new sixth cohort made up of retired legionnaires that were living in New Rome. I smiled when I saw who was leading the cohort: Gwen. You couldn't tell that she had once suffered a fatal injury by the way she carried herself, she was walking proudly with her head held high underneath her centurion's helm. Next to her was the cohort's other centurion. A short, stocky man around twenty-four who looked like somewhere in his family tree was a gorilla. The sixth cohort was around the same size as the other five, approximately forty legionaries. They followed the rest of the legion down the hill and away from where we were standing.

"Guys, look!" Piper called. She had wandered a few feet away and was pointing towards the will-be battlefield. The opposing army had started to inch forwards.

"Right, we need to go. We're no use here." Reyna said immediately slipping into her military leader persona. "You two," she said pointing at Jason and Piper. "Go help wherever you can to help, I don't care what you do just help."

"We'll do what we can," Jason said before flashing off with his girlfriend.

"Lady Artemis, Thalia, whoever's leading the hunt. I trust you to position yourselves most effectively." Reyna continued. "And you-" She said turning to me. "You're coming with me."

"Aye Aye captain!" I called while saluting the immortal praetor.

"Oh shut up Jackson," she sighed exasperatedly before turning around and marching down the hill.

 **Linebreak**

"ROMANS!" Reyna shouted from atop Guido who had adopted the praetor after she lost Scipio and was named horse friend by the original Pegasus. Although it had taken the promise of all the doughnuts he could eat to get him to take part in the fight. "TODAY WE ARE FIGHTING TO PROTECT CAMP JUPITER, NEW ROME AND IT CITIZENS!" She continued while trotting back and forth in front of her troops. "WE ARE LUCKY TO HAVE NOT ONLY A NEW TEMPORARY SIXTH COHORT BUT WE ARE AIDED BY THE HUNTERS OF ARTEMIS. TOGETHER WE WILL PROTECT NEW ROME AND ROMES LEGECY FROM THOSE WHO WISH TO BRING HARM TO OUR CITY."

The romans all cheered in agreement at their leader's speech. While Reyna was giving her speech I was just standing awkwardly in front of the legion. Each cohort were in lines, from the first cohort on the west side to the sixth cohort on the east. The hunt had left to position themselves somewhere to the side so they could flank around and ambush when the time was right.

I turned around so I was no longer facing the romans but was looking towards the oncoming army. They were moving at a steady pace towards us and were maybe half a mile away. I could see the two giants who were leading the battle more clearly now. One of the giants I had never seen before but from the stories Annabeth and Piper told be of the Temple of Fear in Sparta I could tell it was Mimas. He was short (for a giant) sanding around 25 feet tall, he had charcoal black skin and scales. Resting up against his right shoulder was a sledgehammer which was taller than a man yet he didn't seem aware of its weight.

Next to him walked a female giant, Peri- something or other. I couldn't remember her name but I recognised her from the battle at Athens. She was taller than Mimas by about five feet, her dragon legs were a murky green. She carried a knife larger than the romans swords. My first instinct was that she was the bane of Aphrodite but I wouldn't have bet anything on it.

I was brought back to the moment by Reyna shouting something to the legion in Latin. Latin doesn't come naturally to me like ancient Greek so I wasn't sure what she had said. Unlike me however the romans had no difficulty understanding Reyna's command and each solider lowered their pilums

to in between the gaps of their shields.

"Priorem!" My co-praetor shouted before turning Guido around towards the enemy. While I stood still trying to translate the Latin, the romans started to march forwards. Still keeping their spears low and shields high they moved to meet their foe. Reyna started to pick up speed on Guido who soon launched into the air.

"Well… guess I'm leading solo from the ground." I muttered to myself before uncapping riptide and setting of at a jog ahead of my roman allies. As I ran I tried to keep my mind clear. It was harder than you'd expect, I was being bombarded by flashbacks from the Athens battle. _You're not losing anyone today._ I told myself. Memories of Paul, my mom and Annabeth flashed through my mind. I felt a few tears escape my eyes and begin to roll down my cheeks. "For Paul… for Mom…. for Annabeth," I whispered to myself. I wasn't far from the first monsters, directly ahead of me there were a dozen or so earthborn. I raised riptide up to around head height and as I reached the first monster I brought my sword down in a cross slash immediately following up with a stab to the creatures chest. The earthborn crumbled to dust.

The dust had barely started to fall when I heard the legion engage with the monstrous army. A mixture of shouts and the sound of metal hitting metal filled the air. I had no time to check to see how the romans were doing because I knew that I needed to get to the giants as soon as I could. I couldn't risk leaving them to do as they pleased, I had to get their attention focused on me. I slashed at another earthborn before spinning around and stabbing a second straight through the gut. I kept moving forwards to where I could see the giants towering over their troops. Surprisingly most of the monsters let me past without attacking me, maybe they were under orders to let me get to their bosses? An empousa tried to slash me with her claws but I managed to drop to the floor and roll under her attack before decapitating her and moving on. I found myself in a clearing free of monsters the only thing in the ten foot radius was a pair of giant (literally) scaly black legs.

"Well if it isn't Percy Jackson himself," the giant boomed at me. He had a deep but also scratchy voice. He still had his hammer propped against his shoulder with its head just behind his mess of long black oily hair. "I will spill your blood in the name of my father." After he finished speaking he shrugged the hammer from his shoulder and let it swing like a pendulum. The head of the hammer was made from the same dark metal as his breastplate, most likely stygian iron.

"Well that sure sounds like a fun plan," I replied sarcastically.

"Plan!" Mimas scoffed. "Plans mean nothing to me. Strategic minds turn to mush, maps mean nothing logic crumbles in my presence," he boasted. I remember Annabeth telling me about how she and Piper had to fight him using instinct and emotion rather than logic and planning. Annabeth struggled with that style of fighting, yet it was my speciality.

I glanced to my side where I could see Reyna flying around the female giants head just evading her knife. She seemed to be doing well but I knew Guido wouldn't be able to keep it up forever. I turned back to face my own giant only to find him swinging his hammer at me. I just had time to step back as it swept past my face in a dark blur. I took my chance to step inside is guard and slashed at his calf. Mimas let out a roar of pain as ichor seeped from the wound I inflicted. I had to doge through his legs and avoid being stood on.

"You know you cannot defeat me without a god helping you," he said while swinging his hammer again. His attack missed me and collided with a small cyclops sending it into a crowd of empousai knocking them down like bowling pins, even turning a few to dust. What he said was true, I couldn't kill him without the help of a god, or goddess. Mimas didn't know about the ace that I had up my sleeve but my problem was I wasn't I control of when that ace was played. I just had to keep the giant's attention until the hunt executed their ambush and Artemis came to aid me.

I went on the offensive once again, this time going to the other leg from the one I slashed earlier. I got behind the giant and stabbed into his Achilles tendon, twisting my blade as I pulled it out. Mimas let out a roar and fell to one knee, I felt the ground tremble as he fell. I stabbed riptide into the ground and called on my father's powers, I felt the familiar tug in my gut and water spurted from the dirt. I willed it to wrap around the giant's thick black ankle tethering him to the floor. Mimas struggled against the restraint, but I managed to hold on to the water tether keeping him trapped. Now that he was somewhat immobilized, he decided to drop his hammer as he couldn't swing it to its full extent. He started to make attempts to grab me, so I had to keep moving. I didn't bother trying to attack him anymore, it wouldn't achieve anything as Artemis still hadn't shown up. All my concentration was being used on maintaining the water shackle and evading his fists.

After maybe a minute of weaving and dodging I realised that as long as he was still restrained I could go help Reyna with the female giant. I ran towards where the giantess was trying to swat the praetor and pegasus out of the air. As I ran I met one of the 'evil centaurs' that had been in the army Polybotes lead previously against Camp Jupiter at the end of my Alaska quest. He looked similar to any other centaur but had horns protruding from his head and a look of manic insanity across his face. He was armed with a bow and soon had an arrow ready to fire at me. I stopped running, closed my eyes and focused on my powers, this time my new ones from Hestia. Unlike the tug in my gut I get when I use my father's powers, when I use Hestia's I get a warm glowing feeling in my chest. A bit like someone softly blowing on embers inside my chest. I opened my eyes was saw the centaur drop his bow which was now engulfed in flames. I ran forward, I couldn't face killing him so just slashed at his leg causing him to tumble to the floor.

I continued towards the giantess. I looked up and I could see Guido was exhausted, pegasi could fly for long distances easily but evasive flying tired them out much faster. _Hang in there buddy._ I said to him.

 _Yo care to lend a hand?_ Guido panted in my head as a reply.

 _That's why I'm here._ I answered. _We're not going to be able to kill her until Artemis gets here._ I told him as he just managed to avoid the huge knife that was trying to cut him out the air.

 _Artemis is around?_ He asked.

 _No that's the problem._ I answered sarcastically. I was still trying to fight my way towards where my friends were fighting the giant. Two laistrygonian giants were currently trying to kill me so I had to fight them off while continuing my telepathic communications with the pegasus.

 _Hey you know what I meant._ The horse replied in my mind. _If there's no gods around what did you do with the other giant?_

 _I managed to incapacitate him._ Was my reply as I decapitated one of the giants.

 _Oh rig-_ Guido didn't finish his sentence instead spouted numerous curse words that showed he had been spending too much time with Arion. Obviously, something was seriously wrong. I managed to kill the second laistrygonian and rushed over just in time to see a pegasus-preator meteor hit the ground.

"Finally, now time for you to die," the giantess said looming over the Reyna and Guido. I knew I didn't have much time so I did the first thing that came to mind; I threw riptide straight at her back. Honestly it was anticlimactic, riptide cut her skin then bounced off, not sticking in like I had hoped. It managed to get her attention off Reyna, only now it was on me and I no longer had a weapon. "Well who do we have here, Percy Jackson and now unarmed and alone."

I wasn't sure what I was going to do but was bailed out when a silver arrow embedded itself in the giantess's neck.

"Unarmed yes, alone not so much," a certain auburn-haired girl said walking into the clearing around the giantess.

"One more demigod, you're still all going to die." Spat the giantess. Artemis said nothing but let her eyes flash their true color. A look of shock spread over the giantess's face. "Still he has no weapon, both of you need lethal blows to kill me, and that sword caused no more than a scratch."

"But I bet that'll hurt a lot more," Artemis said casually. Reyna had managed to disentangle herself from Guido and had thrust her spear straight into the giantess.

"You may have managed to send me back to my grandfather's realm but the battles far from over, the war even further." The giantess wheezed before crumbling.

"Where's Mimas?" Artemis said, completely ignoring the giantess's last words.

"This way," I answered, before picking up riptide and turning towards where I had left the giant.

"Reyna come on," Artemis said to the immortal praetor.

"You two go, you'll be more than enough for him. I have to check on Guido then help the legion," Reyna responded.

Neither me nor Artemis replied, merely nodding then heading off in the direction of Mimas.

"What did she mean her grandfather's realm?" I questioned Artemis, thinking of the giantess's least words. "I thought Tartarus was the father of all giants."

"That was Periboia, she is Porphyrion's daughter, Tartarus's granddaughter." Artemis answered.

"Damn you Jackson!" Mimas roared when he saw me approach. He was still struggling against the water shackle.

"Clever," Artemis said, I might have been imagining it but I thought she was almost impressed. "You get the honours." She said gesturing me forward.

I stabbed riptide down to the hilt in Mimas's chest and Artemis put an arrow six inches to the right. Immediately the giant stiffened before heading down to his father's realm to reform. Artemis and I turned around to face what remained of the army. The legion was faring well but were also tiring much faster than their enemies.

"Let's split up, we'll be more useful that way." The goddess said before dashing off into the battle.

I set of into the fight carving through enemies mostly; telkhines, hellhounds, cyclopes and dracanae. I was coming from behind most of them so the majority didn't' put up that tough a fight. These low-level grunt monsters were no longer challenging fights for me so I breezed through them without any incidents.

There was a terrible roar from about 100 feet from my right, it was familiar to me but I couldn't remember what creature made such a foul sound. I rushed towards where the noise came from, when I got there I found Thalia face to face with a drakon. The serpentine monster had a number of scales missing and seemed to be having muscle spasms as if it had recently suffered a large amount of high voltage electrical shocks. Thalia was covered in a fine layer of golden dust that stuck to her thanks to the amount of sweat on her skin. She looked tired but I stayed back because she would get pissed if I stepped in and stole her kill. I skirted around the edge of their battle fighting those who got a bit too close to Thalia, allowing her to focus on the drakon. I had just finished duelling with a telkhine when I heard Thalia let out a yell and the drakon make a sort of squealing noise and was then silent. I spun around to check what had happened and saw Thalia leaning on her spear which was embedded in the drakons left eye socket.

"Hey seaweed brain, nice of you to drop by."

"Hey Thals, good job."

"What this, it was nothing," she said cockily, gesturing at the dead drakon below her. Counter to what she said I knew fighting a drakon was hard work.

"Yeah sure it was ..."

"Anyway, are you just gonna stand there or are you gonna help you subjects, praetor," she said putting emphasis on my temporary title.

I looked around at the battle, the enemy had reformed ranks and was making a renewed attempt at attacking. The legion had also reformed their ranks around the legions eagle standard, which was periodically spurting out lightning. We were standing off the left and slightly behind the enemy once again. The little Tiber wasn't far behind us. This gave me an idea, which I admit wasn't a strong point of mine but this seemed to be an outlier.

"Hey Thals, how much energy you got?"

"I've still got some fight in me, seaweed brain. Why, got a plan?"

"Yeah and it might actually be a good one," I answered.

"Care to share this plan of yours?" she asked. "And I'll judge if it's a good one or not."

"You know how water conducts electricity, right?"

"Yeah that's basic elementary school science." She answered. "Spit it out already, what's your plan? Wait… I think I know what your planning, and it just might work."

I put one hand on riptides pommel and one on the grip, so that the tip was pointing to the floor. I plunged my sword into the ground and felt the usual pull on my gut. I pulled back against the feeling in my gut and focused on the waters of the little Tiber. The water resisted me at first but eventually bent to my will. A tidal wave washed over me and Thalia and hit full force into the back of the remaining enemy army, stopping just short of the roman's front line. Thalia let out a yell while thrusting her spear into the air, grey clouds gathered and a large lightning bolt hit the tip. For a second the head of the spear crackled and sparked with as much voltage as Thalia could muster in her tired state. She thrust her spear at the monsters and the stored electricity shot out. Thanks to the monsters being drenched the electricity shot between them turning about 70% of the remaining enemy to dust.

"Wow seaweed brain, your plan actually worked!" Thalia said obviously shocked.

"What this, it was nothing," I said mocking her words from earlier.

 **AN/: Chapter 21 done! I hope this was better than the other battle chapters, especially chap 2 (which I still haven't got around to rewriting). Not sure when the next chap will be out, possibly this month but more likely march sometime.**

 **As always please let me know any and all thoughts.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

 **Artemis POV**

I was fighting my way through a group of dracanae with Phoebe by my side. Truth be told I was tiring but I didn't relent my attack on the serpentine women, my knives flashed as they caught the light while I danced between foes. Phoebe stood behind me firing arrows whenever she saw an opening in the dracanae's defence. She was my eldest hunter and we'd fought together many times, so I had no doubts or worries, I had complete trust that I never needed to watch my back. I rolled under a spear and slashed at my attacker, as the dust fell I saw a tidal wave carving its way through Tartarus's army from behind. The water stopped a good six feet from the front monsters front line when it crackled and hissed as it coursed with electricity. There were a few screams and yells but most of the enemy exploded into fine golden dust. I thrust my knife into the abdomen of the dracaena in front of me and pushed past her as she crumbled.

Once I'd pushed past her I saw my lieutenant and her/our cousin leaning on each other out of exhaustion, they both looked near to passing out but Perseus still had a cocky grin on his face. For I reason I didn't know the sight of his grin made me smile too. I was brought back to reality by a cloud of dust covering my back and down my neck, I turned around and found myself face to face with Phoebe.

"Are you ok Milady?" She panted, wiping sweat from her brow.

"Huh? Yes sorry." I replied to the redhead whose face was the same colour as her hair. "Come on, we need to clean up the rest."

The romans were now in one large huddle around their eagle, their main focus seemed to be trying to keep their injured safe. Without Perseus and Thalia's electric wave combo I would have had doubts about how long they could hold, however they now had way less foes to hold back so they had started to stabilize. My hunters and I were behind the enemy so although we were tired and low on arrows we had a significant advantage. We fought together like we had so many times over the years, each of us dancing and dodging the blades, arrows and claws that came our way. Personally I prefer ambushing my foes from afar using stealth and speed but there was an undeniable thrill to being in the middle of a large fight.

I leapt onto to shoulders of an earthborn who was facing the romans and stabbed one my knives down into its hilt. As the monstrosity crumbled I saw a cyclopes swing its club almost like a golf club mortals use. As the club reached the lowest point of its arc time seemed to slow down and I could do nothing but watch as it connected with Eva's back. My loyal hunter's body was immediately lifted in the air and flung a good twenty feet before being reunited with the ground. As I saw her body lying crumpled in a heap I felt as if I had been the one who received the blow from the club; I tried to scream or call out but I couldn't make a noise. Then as if to compensate for slowing down time seemed to fast forward and I found myself on my knees next to Eva. I held her face in my hands and brushed her black hair off her face.

"Mi-"she started before coughing, bringing up blood.

"Shhh," I sobbed. Eva had been part of the hunt for almost five centuries, in fact I think it was five hundred years next year. She was a great hunter and the best daughter of Aphrodite that had ever joined the hunt. I closed my eyes and cradled her head in my hands, waiting to feel the last of her lifeforce fade. It never came, instead a wave of warmth washed off her.

 **Percy POV**

I had been taking it easy, helping the romans. I didn't want to try and take on too many with how exhausted I was because I would probably make a mistake and even if it didn't kill me the gloating from Thalia would. All of a sudden what I swear was a person flew past me, eventually they came to a stop as they hit the ground and I could tell it was a hunter. Almost immediately Artemis was by the hunters side and I could tell it was bad. I began to run over even though I wasn't sure what help I'd be, I could heal in water but I doubted that I could share that ability. I slowed to almost a stop thinking that a hunter would hardly want to spend their last moments with a man, especially if that man soaked the in water even if I was trying to help.

 _There is a way you can help._ I heard the voice of Hestia in my mind.

It took my a while to respond as I struggled with telepathic communication especially when I cant see who I'm talking to. _How? What do I have to do?_

 _First you've got to get to her._

That makes sense, I thought to myself. I had no idea what Hestia was alluding to, but I trusted that she knew what she/I was doing. A hellhound got in my way but I quickly dispersed of it and made my way to the fallen hunter and her mistress. As I got closer I could tell that it was Eva lying on the floor. She was the hunter who had given me the hardest time but I wasn't going to do nothing just because of how she'd treated me.

 _Right, what do I do?_ I asked my adoptive mother.

 _Put one hand on her head and one on her chest._ She explained. _Then focus on pushing the power you inherited from me out through your hands._

 _Ok got it._ I answered as I got to the two girls, Artemis hadn't seemed to have noticed me. _Wait, hold up! You want me to put my hands where?_

 _Her head and chest._

 _You want me to put my hands on the chest of the hunter who hates me most?_

 _Percy get a grip! If you don't she'll die!_

I took a deep breath and prayed that Eva nor her patron killed me for what I was about to do. I placed my right hand on her forehead and my left on the centre of her chest. Eva's eyelids opened a crack and I'm sure she wanted to kill me but I continued anyway. I focused on the warm comforting feeling that I drew power from when using my abilities from Hestia and pushed it out from my hands. A soft orange glow encased my hands as I felt myself drain my remaining energy rapidly however I kept my hands where they were and continued channelling what little energy I had left.

 _Keep going._ Urged Hestia in my mind. So I did; until I could feel my vision darkening. _It won't heal her completely but will keep her from dying as long as she gets proper medical attention._

Well that's good. I thought to myself before my vision went completely dark and I passed out.

 **Artemis POV**

I opened my eyes and saw Perseus collapse on the other side of Eva. His head hit the floor with a hollow thud but I had other things on my mind. Mainly why was he here and what did he just do. Whatever he did I could hear Eva's breathing become less shallow and I felt her lifeforce strengthen ever so slightly. I let out a sigh of relief as I could tell she wasn't about to be taken from me by Thanatos. Her condition was still serious but she might stand a chance if I get her to my brother quick enough. He was an idiot but still occasionally had his uses.

I looked up and saw that the fighting hadn't quite finished. I locked eyes with Maddy who saw me kneeling next to her sister-in-arms and Percy. She called out to the other girls who immediately rushed over and without hesitation formed a circle around the three of us who were on the floor. I just knelt there listening to Eva's breath hoping it stayed steady. I have no idea how long I was there letting my hunters protect us.

"-ady! Milday!" I zoned back in to Thalia calling to me. "What happened to them?"

I looked up at my half sister who was leaning on her spear looking thoroughly knackered yet worry was still prevalent on her face. I looked around and the rest of the girls were gathered around us looking equally worried. Behind the girls I could tell the fighting had just about finished and most of the monsters were either fleeing or had been turned into golden ash. The Romans had won, though it wasn't without casualties and I'd do everything within my power to make sure Eva wasn't one of them.

"She was hit by a cyclopes." I answered before turning to look at the son of Poseidon unconscious on the ground. "I have no idea what happened to him." I felt a twinge of worry as I realised I hadn't check on Perseus, I simply assumed he collapsed out of exhaustion as I couldn't see any wounds.

"Will she be okay?" Tia asked fearful for Eva.

"If she's not then my brother will be lucky to still have his manhood." I reply deadly serious with my threat. "APOLLO!"

 **AN/: Well it's been a while. Sorry for such a long wait between chapters especially during this time where we're all bored out our minds. Again I have been struggling with my health and have having loads of appointments which completely exhaust me. I really don't want to abandon this story to die and all your reviews really help me. Please let me know any thoughts you have, good or bad and I'll try get the next chapter out soon.**

 **Since the last chapter there has been a lot going on in the world. I hope the pandemic hasn't been too hard on any of you and you've all been healthy both physically and mentally.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

 **Artemis POV**

My brother had enough sense to come immediately when I called. There was a flash of golden light, it dimmed to reveal my brother. My hunters all had enough experience with gods that they had averted their eyes, they turned to my twin and each gave a slight bow to him.

Apollo was in his roman form although it flickered for a millisecond when he saw me. Instead of his usual jeans and t-shirts he was wearing white trousers with a sky-blue suit jacket over a white button-down shirt. He had golden cufflinks which shone like they were miniature suns. His hair was neatly combed and overall he looked much more mature than usual. You'd think I'd prefer him as a roman and although he was more serious and less of a man-whore, his roman form had a dark side. He could be vengeful and jealous and would often demand respect like our father. He had a habit of taking out his anger on mortals who had insulted him in some way again much like our father. While it was common knowledge that I wasn't exactly the kindest god to mortals however my victims usually deserved it and were almost entirely males.

"Hello ladies," he greeted with a flash of his blindingly white teeth. Although his roman form wasn't as bad as his greek he was still a flirt. "Why did you call me? I was busy."

"What do you think?!" I shout sarcastically, gesturing to Eva's body in my lap. "My hunter is fucking dying so HEAL HER!" losing my temper, I know Perseus did something, but I have no idea how effective it was. Is he blind? Why else would I call him in the middle of a battlefield with an unconscious girl in my arms?

"First of all, I don't appreciate being spoken to like that." He said sternly, walking towards me.

"Whatever, heal her!"

"Second, what happened to Percy?" He said nodding his head to the passed-out son of Poseidon. He spoke in a slightly less stern tone but completely ignored me. "And finally, I can't."

"What. Do. You. Mean. You. CAN'T!" I laid Eva down before shooting up to my feet. Anger coursed through my body however there also was an element of fear. He had never, ever admitted he couldn't heal someone and as a roman he was even more proud than usual.

My brother completely ignored me and walked past before crouching down next to Perseus. He laid a hand over our cousins' forehead and muttered something to himself before standing up.

"Overexertion, he used too much power that's all." He said casually before turning back to me. "Lots of rest and maybe a glass of nectar and he'll be- " He was cut off by my foot hitting his chest knocking him to the ground and winding him.

"I don't care." I hissed pushing one of my knives under his chin and kept a foot on his chest, pinning him down. My words weren't entirely true; I felt a small part of me relax knowing that Perseus was alright yet I was still focused on Eva. "Why won't you heal her?!"

Apollo looked pissed but didn't try to free himself. "Not won't, can't."

"What do you mean?" I spoke slowly, emphasising each word with a little more pressure on my knife. A little ichor appeared, and my brother cursed in Ancient Greek.

"Let me stand and put that damn knife down and I'll explain." He demanded angrily. I paused for a second, considering staying where I was but decided to relent and stepped off his chest. He stood up and snapped his fingers removing the boot print from his chest and the dirt and monster ash from his back. He paused for a second before speaking. "This battle was between the forces of Tartarus and the demigods of New Rome; therefore, it would come under 'demi-god affairs' and the Ancient Laws forbid it. If we were part of the battle, like at Athens then I would be able to help."

"Bullshit. I was here and she is part of my hunt. So heal her." I demanded.

"You were here yet for some reason are keeping yourself in disguise. Neither the romans nor the monsters knew your identity. Also, you were one goddess among a few hundred romans. It was for the most part a war fought by the demi-gods. You might want to mess with the ancient laws but I don't." I thought about what he said, part of my thought he might just be lying but part of me understood where he was coming from. "Anyway," he said breaking me out of my thoughts. "She's been seriously injured but is stable, someone's already partially healed her. What happened?"

"I'm not really sure," I answer, still unsure whether he was being truthful. "Perseus did something."

"Any idea what he did?" he questioned, neither of us had ever heard of Perseus being able to heal others.

I shrugged, "It must've been something he inherited from Hestia."

"Possibly," he mused. He touched a hand to Eva's forehead and was silent for a few seconds. I (nor any of the hunters) would never let him touch anyone under usual circumstances but I hoped he had changed his mind about healing her. "She's suffered extensive internal injuries and frankly she should be dead. You owe Percy, whatever he did has stabilized her. She's still in critical condition and will need a lot of care. Tia's a good healer," He nodded to his Greek daughter who was standing with her sisters off to the side." But I'd recommend she stays in the New Rome hospital until she has recovered at least partially."

I wasn't happy at the thought of her staying in a hospital and was going to argue that Tia could heal her but he cut me off as soon as I opened my mouth.

"Artemis, even if Tia was going to be the one to take care of her the hunt would still have to stay here. If you keep her in the hospital she'll be out of the coma in no time."

"Coma, she's in a coma?"

"Like I said she should be dead but Percy stabilized her," he repeated gesturing to the still unconscious hero on the floor. "As a result, yes, she is in a coma. When she wakes you can have her discharged into Tia's care." Once he had finished talking he immediately flashed away leaving me and my hunters with two unconscious bodies.

 **Linebreak**

I was sitting in a chair in a small room with a singular widow to my left. Eva lay in a bed just to my right. I could hear each of her breaths, they were shallow but steady. The stretcher used to transport her was propped up against the wall. We were in the hospital in New Rome, I had demanded that Eva had a private room rather than staying in a ward like most of the other patients. Thalia was the only other person in the room, she sat on the other side of the bed from me. She was dirty and had a couple large cuts and nasty bruises but had insisted that she came with me.

We were sitting in silence when the door opened and in walked a young blonde woman. She looked like a stereotypical doctor with a white coat, a stethoscope around her neck and a clipboard in her hand. She looked almost like a regular mortal, the only things that gave it away were the brilliant blonde hair, perfect tan and bright smile, I could tell she was one of my brother's daughters.

"Hello, I'm Dr Cathy Parks, daughter of Apollo," she introduced while extending her hand out to Thalia.

"Thalia, daughter of Zeus,"

The doctor offered me her hand; I shook it while deciding to reveal my true identity. I let my eyes shine to their true extent. "I'm Artemis."

"Oh my, it's a pleasure to meet you milady." Cathy said letting go of my hand and bowing. My head began to hurt and I could tell she was thinking of Diana, my roman form. Thankfully she seemed to get over my identity rather quickly and turned to Eva. "And who's this?"

"Eva, daughter of Aphrodite and one of my best hunters," I answered. She scribbled something down on her clipboard.

"Okay, I'll be overseeing Eva's recovery although there will be others working alongside me."

"That's not a problem but I don't want a single male allowed in this room at any time." I ordered. I wasn't a fan of Eva being in hospital but I could just about stomach it as long as no males were involved.

"Of course, that won't be a problem." She didn't seem surprised by my order. "We'll do everything we can to get Eva out of here as soon as possible but her progress will be slow and uneventful for the most part. Of course, you're welcome to stay if you wish."

I nodded in understanding, I'm not sure why but I like this doctor. "We'd better go and find Chloe before getting back to the rest of the girls," I respond getting out of my seat. "We'll be back to visit tomorrow."

"Of course, should anything happen in the meantime I'll send a messenger." Cathy turned to Thalia, "Would you like a glass of nectar to help with those?" She asked gesturing at Thalia's cuts.

"That would be great."

"I'll walk you out and get you it on the way," Cathy said turning around, Thalia and I just behind her.

 **Linebreak**

 **Percy POV**

I woke lying on something soft like a mattress or couch and the taste of my mom's blue chocolate cookies in my mouth. I knew it must have been nectar, unless I'd somehow been transported back to Manhattan. I had a pounding in my head and every muscle in my body ached. I managed to open my eyes but whoever had fed me the nectar had left my vision so instead I was greeted by the roof of my tent.

"Wakey wakey Percy," someone said in a sing-song voice. I couldn't tell who but they soon spoke again. "How'd you feel?"

"Ugh," was all I could manage at first. I took a second and managed to say the first sentence that came to mind, "Anyone got a grilled cheese?"

 **AN/: It's not amazingly long and I know not loads happened but I hope you enjoyed. Please let me know what you think!**


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